Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not capable of existing in agreement or harmony with something else.
  • adjective Not capable of living or working together happily or harmoniously; antagonistic.
  • adjective Impossible to be held simultaneously by one person.
  • adjective Logic That cannot be simultaneously true; mutually exclusive.
  • adjective Producing an undesirable effect when used in combination with a particular substance.
  • adjective Not immunologically compatible.
  • noun One that is incompatible.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not compatible; incapable of harmonizing or agreeing; mutually repelling; incongruous.
  • Specifically That cannot coexist or be conjoined, as mutually repellent substances, or ingredients in a medicine which react on each other, causing precipitation or serious change of composition, or remedies which have opposite medicinal properties. Such substances are distinctively called incompatibles.
  • Persons or things that are incompatible with each other. See I., 2.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Not compatible; so differing as to be incapable of harmonious combination or coexistence; inconsistent in thought or being; irreconcilably disagreeing
  • adjective (Chem.) Incapable of being together without mutual reaction or decomposition, as certain medicines.
  • adjective (Logic) terms which can not be combined in thought.
  • noun (Med. & Chem.) An incompatible substance; esp., in pl., things which can not be placed or used together because of a change of chemical composition or of opposing medicinal qualities.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of two things: impossible to coexist; not congruous because of differences; irreconcilable; disagreeing.
  • noun medicine, chemistry An incompatible substance; one of a group of things that cannot be placed or used together because of a change of chemical composition or opposing medicinal qualities.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective incapable of being used with or connected to other devices or components without modification
  • adjective not compatible
  • adjective not easy to combine harmoniously
  • adjective used especially of solids or solutions; incapable of blending into a stable homogeneous mixture
  • adjective not in keeping with what is correct or proper
  • adjective used especially of drugs or muscles that counteract or neutralize each other's effect
  • adjective not compatible with other facts
  • adjective not suitable to your tastes or needs
  • adjective of words so related that one contrasts with the other

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French incompatible.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word incompatible.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.