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Definitions

incompetence

[in-kom-pi-tuhns] / ɪnˈkɒm pɪ təns /
NOUN
lack of ability
Synonyms


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

There’s plenty of furtive gags like this throughout “Up in Smoke”: police incompetence, absent parents, anti-war rhetoric and racial stereotypes that function as satire.

From Salon • Apr. 18, 2026

This is obviously a demonstration of incompetence and it is their fault.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026

“Many of these individuals are effectively prisoners of bureaucratic incompetence, inaction, and indecision, held in place not by law, but by a system that has failed to move.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

He also accused DOJ lawyers of destroying the office’s good standing with the judiciary and suggested that its incompetence has allowed defendants to evade just penalties for heinous crimes.

From Slate • Mar. 20, 2026

Cursing her incompetence, she stole one of Trotter’s magazines and cut from it a picture of a tall, beautiful black woman in an Afro.

From "The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson




Vocabulary lists containing incompetence


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