inconvenience

English

Etymology

From Middle English inconvenience, from Old French inconvenience (“misfortune, calamity, impropriety”) (compare French inconvenance (“impropriety”) and inconvénient (“inconvenience”)), from Late Latin inconvenientia (“inconsistency, incongruity”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnkənˈviːnɪəns/, /ɪŋk-/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnkənˈvinjəns/, /ɪŋk-/
• Hyphenation: in‧con‧ve‧nience

Noun

inconvenience (countable and uncountable, plural inconveniences)

1. The quality of being inconvenient.
   • [1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     They plead against the inconvenience, not the unlawfulness, […] of ceremonies in burial.

2. Something that is not convenient, something that bothers.
   • 1664, John Tillotson, “Sermon I. The Wisdom of Being Religious. Job XXVIII. 28.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: […], London: […] B. Aylmer, […]; [a]nd W. Rogers, […], published 1696, →OCLC:

     [Man] is liable to a great many inconveniences.

   • 1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Part, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 101:

     The inconveniences that must be endured before the modernisation plan can come into action may be seen at Coventry, where since August the station has been in the throes of rebuilding.

   • 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist‎^[1], volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):

     An artificial kidney […] can cause bleeding, clotting and infection—not to mention inconvenience for patients, who typically need to be hooked up to one three times a week for hours at a time.

Synonyms

• (something inconvenient): annoyance, nuisance, trouble

Translations

something inconvenient or bothering

• Belarusian: нязру́чнасць f (njazrúčnascʹ), невыго́да f (njevyhóda), невыго́днасць f (njevyhódnascʹ)
• Bulgarian: неудо́бство (bg) n (neudóbstvo), притесне́ние (bg) n (pritesnénie)
• Catalan: inconveniència f, incomoditat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不便 (zh) (bùbiàn), 不方便 (zh) (bùfāngbiàn), 麻煩 / 麻烦 (zh) (máfan)

• Czech: nepříjemnost (cs) f
• Dutch: ongemak (nl) n, verstoring (nl) f
• Estonian: ebamugavus, tülin
• Finnish: hankaluus (fi), vaiva (fi), epämukavuus (fi), rasitus (fi), vastus (fi), harmi (fi), kiusa (fi)
• French: dérangement (fr) m, désagrément (fr) m
• German: Unannehmlichkeit (de) f
• Hebrew: אי נוחות
• Hindi: असुविधा (hi) (asuvidhā)
• Hungarian: kellemetlenség (hu), alkalmatlanság (hu), kényelmetlenség (hu)
• Italian: disagio (it) m, inconveniente (it) m, disturbo (it), fastidio (it), incomodo (it) m
• Japanese: 不便 (ja) (fuben), 面倒 (ja) (mendō), 厄介 (ja) (yakkai)
• Korean: 불편 (ko) (bulpyeon)
• Latin: incommoditās f
• Māori: pūheki, pūwheki
• Polish: niedogodność (pl) f, niewygoda (pl) f
• Portuguese: inconveniência (pt) f, incómodo (pt) m (Portugal), incômodo (pt) m (Brazil)
• Romanian: deranj (ro) n, incomodare (ro) f, neplăcere (ro) f, inconveniență f
• Russian: неудо́бство (ru) n (neudóbstvo), беспоко́йство (ru) n (bespokójstvo) (bother)
• Slovak: nepríjemnosť f
• Spanish: inconveniencia (es) f, desconveniencia f
• Swedish: olägenhet (sv) c, besvär (sv) n, krångel (sv) c, strul (sv) c
• Ukrainian: незру́чність f (nezrúčnistʹ), неви́года f (nevýhoda), неви́гідність f (nevýhidnistʹ)

Verb

inconvenience (third-person singular simple present inconveniences, present participle inconveniencing, simple past and past participle inconvenienced)

1. To bother; to discomfort.
   • 1956 May, “Transport in Ulster”, in Railway Magazine, page 279:

     He declared that these drastic steps would undoubtedly inconvenience a good many people, but the alternative was bankruptcy of the Ulster Transport Authority and the breakdown of public transport services.

Synonyms

• (obsolete) discommodate
• discommode
• incommode
• impose

Derived terms

• inconveniencer
• uninconvenienced

Translations

to bother or discomfort

• Bulgarian: притеснявам (bg) (pritesnjavam)
• Esperanto: ĝeni (eo)
• Finnish: vaivata (fi), rasittaa (fi); tuoda hankaluutta, tuottaa vaivaa (+ allative), kiusata (fi)
• German: lästig sein, stören (de), Unannehmlichkeiten bereiten
• Irish: cuir isteach ar
• Latin: incommodō
• Latvian: traucēt
• Māori: whakahōhā
• Portuguese: incomodar (pt), perturbar (pt), importunar (pt), encher o saco (pt), pentelhar
• Romanian: deranja (ro), incomoda (ro), importuna (ro)
• Russian: доставля́ть неудо́бства impf (dostavljátʹ neudóbstva)
• Spanish: incomodar (es), importunar (es), inconvenir, inconvenienciar
• Swedish: besvära (sv), förorsaka besvär

Further reading

• “inconvenience”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “inconvenience”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.