as in unfit
lacking qualities (as knowledge, skill, or ability) required to do a job
a celebrated author of serious plays, he turned out to be a particularly unable writer of comedies
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unable
Police have since been unable to locate the dog and its owner, who initially attempted to help before leaving the scene, per WABC.
—
Brenton Blanchet, People.com, 3 May 2025
Now that enforcement is soon to begin, however, those who do not secure a compliant ID in time will soon be unable to enter federal facilities or board domestic flights.
—Gabe Hauari, USA Today, 3 May 2025
Using Microsoft Authenticator isn’t a requirement for using a passkey, but account holders who don’t have it will be unable to ditch their login passwords.
—ArsTechnica, 2 May 2025
The Rockets have been unable to win consecutive games in this matchup, for a myriad of reasons.
—Kelly Iko, New York Times, 1 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for unable
Brenton Blanchet, People.com, 3 May 2025
Now that enforcement is soon to begin, however, those who do not secure a compliant ID in time will soon be unable to enter federal facilities or board domestic flights.
—Gabe Hauari, USA Today, 3 May 2025
Using Microsoft Authenticator isn’t a requirement for using a passkey, but account holders who don’t have it will be unable to ditch their login passwords.
—ArsTechnica, 2 May 2025
The Rockets have been unable to win consecutive games in this matchup, for a myriad of reasons.
—Kelly Iko, New York Times, 1 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for unable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unable
Adjective
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Declared mentally unfit to stand trial, he was committed to the Mendota Mental Health Institute.—
Jenna deJong,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 May 2025
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That figure comprises people found psychiatrically unfit for trial but are stuck on Rikers awaiting a bed in a state psychiatric facility.—
Graham Rayman,
New York Daily News,
5 May 2025
Adjective
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Mix Materials The beauty in the unfitted kitchen aesthetic is found in its collected look.—
Patricia Shannon,
Better Homes & Gardens,
6 May 2025
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The venerable American clan at the center of the narrator’s reminiscences are wholly unfitted to the modern world and no longer endowed with the fortune that one of them brought home long ago on clipper ships.—
Daniel Akst,
WSJ,
2 Sep. 2022
Adjective
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But Elmer is equally incompetent there, too, robbing the wrong train, failing at safecracking, miscalculating explosives and getting ignobly killed by lawmen in an Oklahoma shootout in 1911.—
Frank Rizzo,
Variety,
27 Apr. 2025
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Image In response to the letter becoming public, the Transportation Department made the remarkable decision to remove those lawyers from the case and released a statement suggesting that the team was either incompetent or motivated by politics.—
Stefanos Chen,
New York Times,
26 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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This definition also includes instance in which the victim is incapable of giving consent because of temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity (include due to the influence of drugs or alcohol) or because of age.—
Baltimore Sun staff,
Baltimore Sun,
1 May 2025
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Hampered by this erroneous guidance, health authorities and the American public began to believe that women were physically incapable of producing enough breastmilk.—
Made by History,
Time,
29 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unable. Accessed 16 May. 2025.
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