as in unfit
lacking qualities (as knowledge, skill, or ability) required to do a job
an incompetent carpenter had built the deck, and the railings were loose already
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of incompetent
Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 2 Dec. 2024
Williams was offered reassurance, primarily by Poles, that all that failure was a thing of the past, missteps made by previous incompetent regimes.
—Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 30 Nov. 2024
One, a Star Wars spin-off movie Word 3 (bottom left) hint — incompetent
Word 4 (bottom right) hint — advantageous.
—Kris Holt, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2024
There’s fat chance of that when political lackeys and incompetent appointees are elevated to high positions.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 26 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for incompetent 
Adjective
When their citizens rose up to object to a government that cared more about Iran’s wishes than their own, the states were too hollow and incompetent to crush the uprising.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 2 Dec. 2024
Williams was offered reassurance, primarily by Poles, that all that failure was a thing of the past, missteps made by previous incompetent regimes.
—Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 30 Nov. 2024
One, a Star Wars spin-off movie Word 3 (bottom left) hint — incompetent
Word 4 (bottom right) hint — advantageous.
—Kris Holt, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2024
There’s fat chance of that when political lackeys and incompetent appointees are elevated to high positions.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 26 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for incompetent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for incompetent
Adjective
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The head of the ruling People Power Party turned course from Thursday in announcing that the president is unfit to lead the country.Joohee Cho, ABC News, 7 Dec. 2024
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The team used a P.E. locker room at the stadium since the normal visitors locker room has been unfit for use recently due to a sewage issue, according to MCSD public information officer Matt Jenkins.Kyle Newman, The Denver Post, 26 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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This isn’t to say that Leith and Hollywood are incapable of doing their job because of their age.Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 28 Nov. 2024
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This rhetoric continues conservatives’ history of weaponizing research showing that trans people are more likely to be diagnosed as autistic than cis people in order to baselessly argue that trans youth — and autistic people — are incapable of making their own decisions about their healthcare care.Abby Monteil, Them, 26 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Patole heads to a market town to buy leafy greens, then trudges down a muddy road lined with butcher shops, each a hole-in-the-wall, run by Muslim men – the Indian minority dominates the butchery trade.Omkar Khandekar, NPR, 15 Dec. 2024
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In the textbook’s narrative, the butcher of millions is never culpable.Leon Aron, The Atlantic, 5 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near incompetent
Cite this Entry
“Incompetent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/incompetent. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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