incompetence

incompetence

See also: incompétence

English

Etymology

From French incompétence.

Noun

incompetence (usually uncountable, plural incompetences)

1. Inability to perform; lack of competence; ineptitude.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:

     ... at the head of a crew, too, chiefly made up of mongrel renegades, and castaways, and cannibals--morally enfeebled also, by the incompetence of mere unaided virtue or right-mindedness in Starbuck

   • 1949, George Orwell, 1984:

     Winston did not know why Withers had been disgraced. Perhaps it was for corruption or incompetence. Perhaps Big Brother was merely getting rid of a too-popular subordinate.

   • 1974, Ursula Leguin, The Dispossessed:

     The factory where she worked was a poisonous mass of incompetence, favoritism, and sabotage.

Related terms

• incompetent
• competency
• incompetency

Translations

inability to perform

Bulgarian: неспососбност f (nespososbnost), некомпетентност (bg) f (nekompetentnost) Dutch: incompetentie (nl) Finnish: epäpätevyys (fi), taitamattomuus (fi), osaamattomuus (fi) French: incompétence (fr) German: Inkompetenz (de) f Irish: neamhinniúlacht f, neamhfhulangacht f

Persian: بی‌عرضگی‎ (bi-orzegi) Polish: niekompetencja f, inkompetencja f Russian: некомпете́нтность (ru) f (nekompeténtnostʹ) Spanish: incompetencia (es) Swedish: inkompetens (sv) Telugu: అసమర్థత (te) (asamarthata)