as in inability
the lack of sufficient ability, power, or means
the astounding incompetence of the new assistant
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Recent Examples of incompetence
The chaos and incompetence of the tariff rollout has led to collapsing sentiment.
—
Kevin Coldiron, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025
That’s enough money to rebuild every crumbling bridge and school in the country — all squandered due to government incompetence.
—Richard Stern and Katherine Miller/ The Heritage Foundation, Boston Herald, 22 Apr. 2025
Its canny use of Sérgio’s awkwardness and incompetence to comedic effect also feels like if Alex Ross Perry brought his sense of humor to bear on socio-conscious drama.
—Miriam Balanescu, IndieWire, 17 May 2025
Read’s lawyers say she was framed for O'Keefe's murder and, in opening statements, said the investigation was riddled with error, bias, incompetence and deceit.
—Christopher Cann, USA Today, 14 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for incompetence
Kevin Coldiron, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025
That’s enough money to rebuild every crumbling bridge and school in the country — all squandered due to government incompetence.
—Richard Stern and Katherine Miller/ The Heritage Foundation, Boston Herald, 22 Apr. 2025
Its canny use of Sérgio’s awkwardness and incompetence to comedic effect also feels like if Alex Ross Perry brought his sense of humor to bear on socio-conscious drama.
—Miriam Balanescu, IndieWire, 17 May 2025
Read’s lawyers say she was framed for O'Keefe's murder and, in opening statements, said the investigation was riddled with error, bias, incompetence and deceit.
—Christopher Cann, USA Today, 14 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for incompetence
Recent Examples of Synonyms for incompetence
inability
Noun
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Indeed, the root cause of the Iberian grid’s failure on a clear, windy day when 70% of Spain’s generation capacity was coming from renewables was the Spanish grid’s inability to gracefully handle such a surplus of renewables generation.—
Erik Kobayashi-Solomon,
Forbes.com,
8 June 2025
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Could his inability to execute be a product of pitching deep into most of his 11 starts to begin the season?—
Matt Gelb,
New York Times,
6 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Incompetence.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/incompetence. Accessed 22 Jun. 2025.
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