INCOMPETENT • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Incompetent

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/ɪnkˈɑmpətənt/ Listen

adjective

Incompetent adj.

1.

Not competent; wanting in adequate strength, power, capacity, means, qualifications, or the like; incapable; unable; inadequate; unfit. "Incompetent to perform the duties of the place."

2.

(Law) Wanting the legal or constitutional qualifications; inadmissible; as, a person professedly wanting in religious belief is an incompetent witness in a court of law or equity; incompetent evidence; a mentally defective person is incompetent to care for himself and requires a legal guardian. "Richard III. had a resolution, out of hatred to his brethren, to disable their issues, upon false and incompetent pretexts, the one of attainder, the other of illegitimation."

3.

Not lying within one's competency, capacity, or authorized power; not permissible.

Synonyms: Incapable; unable; inadequate; insufficient; inefficient; disqualified; unfit; improper. Incompetent, Incapable. Incompetent is a relative term, denoting a lack of the requisite qualifications for performing a given act, service, etc.; incapable is absolute in its meaning, denoting lack of power, either natural or moral. We speak of a man as incompetent to a certain task, of an incompetent judge, etc. We say of an idiot that he is incapable of learning to read; and of a man distinguished for his honor, that he is incapable of a mean action.

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Etymology of 'Incompetent'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Incompetent" Quotes from Famous Books

... was somewhat near in the Queen's affinity, and had likewise no incompetent issue; for he had also William, his eldest son, and since Earl of Banbury, Sir Thomas, Sir Robert, and Sir Francis, if I be not a little mistaken in their names and marshalling; and there was also the Lady Lettice, a sister ...

— Travels in England and Fragmenta Regalia • Paul Hentzner and Sir Robert Naunton

... return he conducts negotiations with other groups and administers justice in accordance with the customs handed down from bygone ages. Upon his death he is succeeded by his eldest son, unless the old men of the group should consider him incompetent, in which case they will ...

— The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao - The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition • Fay-Cooper Cole

... who does not feel the want which the scheme is intended to supply; any one who throws it over as a mere theoretical subtlety or crotchet, tending to no valuable purpose, and unworthy of the attention of practical men, may be pronounced an incompetent statesman, unequal to the politics of the future. I mean, unless he is a minister or aspires to become one: for we are quite accustomed to a minister continuing to profess unqualified hostility to an improvement almost to the very day when his conscience or his interest induces him to take it ...

— Autobiography • John Stuart Mill

... lieutenant-governor does not exist. The chief object of electing this officer seems to be to provide a suitable person to fill the vacancy in the office of governor in case the latter should die, resign, be removed, or otherwise become incompetent. ...

— The Government Class Book • Andrew W. Young

... for the most part been fashioned after the universities of Europe, but they have in all cases been inadequately endowed, and without the internal police which is necessary to their vigorous administration. Nine-tenths of the professors are incompetent, and quite one half of them, in any thing worthy the name of university could claim admission only to the class of freshmen; while those who are capable of a reputable performance of their duties—so uncertain are the revenues of the institutions to which ...

— The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 4, March, 1851 • Various

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