as in inability
the lack of sufficient ability, power, or means
the incompetency of the secretary was revealed only after she had left the company, and her successor discovered years of filing left undone
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of incompetency
Brown signed an incompetency finding last Wednesday.
—
Skye Seipp, Austin American-Statesman, 5 Nov. 2024
Any disagreements, incompetencies, and misunderstandings will cause visible damage to your home and your mental health during the process.
—Aksha Mittapalli, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 Aug. 2024
The entire public, with an average IQ of 100, was able to make an assessment of incompetency within the first three minutes or less of the debate.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 4 July 2024
The judge also appointed two doctors to evaluate Ramos’ mental fitness, as part of the issue around mental incompetency, and anticipated learning the results by late August.
—Ishani Desai, Sacramento Bee, 29 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for incompetency
Skye Seipp, Austin American-Statesman, 5 Nov. 2024
Any disagreements, incompetencies, and misunderstandings will cause visible damage to your home and your mental health during the process.
—Aksha Mittapalli, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 Aug. 2024
The entire public, with an average IQ of 100, was able to make an assessment of incompetency within the first three minutes or less of the debate.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 4 July 2024
The judge also appointed two doctors to evaluate Ramos’ mental fitness, as part of the issue around mental incompetency, and anticipated learning the results by late August.
—Ishani Desai, Sacramento Bee, 29 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for incompetency
Recent Examples of Synonyms for incompetency
Noun
-
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
-
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
Noun
-
It was hoped by Orioles fans that, after years of incompetence and penuriousness by the Angeloses, Rubenstein would spend money to keep the team competitive with the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays.—
Bill Madden,
New York Daily News,
24 May 2025
-
The chaos and incompetence of the tariff rollout has led to collapsing sentiment.—
Kevin Coldiron,
Forbes.com,
7 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Incompetency.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/incompetency. Accessed 11 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share