1
as in incompetent
lacking qualities (as knowledge, skill, or ability) required to do a job
an unskillful editor can be worse than none at all
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in inexperienced
lacking or showing a lack of expert skill
some painfully unskillful playing by the band's guitarist
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unskillful
It was intended to be a mockery of the way White people danced, though plantation owners often interpreted slaves' movements as unskillful attempts to be like them.
—
Scottie Andrew and Harmeet Kaur,
CNN,
6 July 2020
One of the most fraught issues around suicide clusters is unskillful media coverage, which studies suggest can spur copycats.
—
Kate Siber,
Outside Online,
4 Sep. 2018
As is often the case, Louie was unlucky — and also unskillful.
—
Frank Stewart,
The Mercury News,
12 Mar. 2017
Scottie Andrew and Harmeet Kaur,
CNN,
6 July 2020
One of the most fraught issues around suicide clusters is unskillful media coverage, which studies suggest can spur copycats.
—
Kate Siber,
Outside Online,
4 Sep. 2018
As is often the case, Louie was unlucky — and also unskillful.
—
Frank Stewart,
The Mercury News,
12 Mar. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unskillful
Adjective
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Clinical psychologists concluded after exams in the six years since his arrest that McGuire was incompetent to stand trial.
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She was found incompetent to stand trial and was committed to the Missouri Department of Mental Health, according to a statement provided by Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Jazzlyn Johnson.
Adjective
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The subtext beneath that statement is that Syd recognizes why Tina might be loath to take orders from a boss who is younger and, relative to Carmy, inexperienced in the business.
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Army investigations have repeatedly pointed to the same factors contributing to fatal training incidents including sleep deprivation, inadequate training and inexperienced leaders supervising high-risk exercises.
Adjective
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There are worse strategies, but perhaps the unfit 18-year-old can’t do it all himself.
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The plan to buy large warehouses unfit for human habitation and spend millions more to convert them to prisons sparked nationwide backlash and pointed resistance in Social Circle and Oakwood.
Adjective
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The events give youth amateur boxers from the city's 22 boxing gyms a chance to show their skills in a competitive atmosphere.
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And injecting college baseball with top high school talent likely would lead to greater attention for the amateur draft and the game overall.
Adjective
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Mix Materials The beauty in the unfitted kitchen aesthetic is found in its collected look.
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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.
Adjective
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According to Grant, factors like operational downtime, the productivity drag of unskilled workers and post-incident audits and reporting requirements can run four to eight times higher than the direct costs.
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Road accidents kill thousands in Bangladesh every year, due to a combination of poor road conditions, unskilled driving and inadequate oversight of traffic rules.
Adjective
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Their rivals were a candid, impudent pair, the schoolgirlish Shakira and a throaty American bottle-service girl named Toni, both incapable of conniving their way into romance, prone to heartbreak, and swiftly ostracized for their overt judgment of other islanders.
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Following in the footsteps of Eddie the Eagle and Cool Runnings, Next Goal Wins focuses on a real-life sporting underdog that even Hollywood recognizes is incapable of being turned into a champion team.
Cite this Entry
“Unskillful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unskillful. Accessed 29 Jun. 2026.
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