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
Firefighters were unable to immediately turn off the water because the car had struck high-voltage wires, which caused a significant hazard.
—
CBS News, 6 Feb. 2026
Health care is a human right, and nobody in the USA should have to struggle to access health care or be unable to afford it.
—Rebecca Noel, Charlotte Observer, 6 Feb. 2026
Family members were then unable to locate him.
—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 6 Feb. 2026
Good and bad ideas come from all sides of the political spectrum, and hyper-partisans who don’t understand that are unable to see the full range of options when making public policy.
—Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore Sun, 5 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for unable
CBS News, 6 Feb. 2026
Health care is a human right, and nobody in the USA should have to struggle to access health care or be unable to afford it.
—Rebecca Noel, Charlotte Observer, 6 Feb. 2026
Family members were then unable to locate him.
—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 6 Feb. 2026
Good and bad ideas come from all sides of the political spectrum, and hyper-partisans who don’t understand that are unable to see the full range of options when making public policy.
—Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore Sun, 5 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for unable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unable
Adjective
-
Apparently, the Meyers in Long Beach were ruled unfit as guardians, or Lynn refused to go back to them, so juvenile authorities located some blood relatives, possibly her father or half sister, and put her on a train back East.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Jan. 2026
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This is a couple unfit to govern a two-bedroom.—
Patricia Marx,
New Yorker,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
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
-
Oil from free America bailed out the virtue-signaling, totally incompetent Democrats here.—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
1 Feb. 2026
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That means the former voters died, moved away, registered in another state, were convicted of a felony crime, deemed incompetent to vote by a judge or were removed from the state's voter rolls because of inactivity.—
Molly Beck,
jsonline.com,
30 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Defense disputes the case McGuire’s attorney, Joseph Tacopina, argued that the petite nurse was physically incapable of killing her 6-foot-3-inch, 210-pound husband, let alone dismembering his body.—
Stepheny Price,
FOXNews.com,
1 Feb. 2026
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The toddler danced around, incapable of containing his energy.—
Maeva Bambuck,
CNN Money,
1 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unable. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.
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