Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not qualified in legal terms: a defendant who was incompetent to stand trial.
- adj. Inadequate for or unsuited to a particular purpose or application.
- adj. Devoid of those qualities requisite for effective conduct or action.
- n. An incompetent person.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not competent; wanting ability or qualification; unable; incapable; inadequate.
- In law, not competent; not qualified; incapacitated. In the law of evidence incompetent is most appropriately used of evidence not fit for the purpose for which it is offered. Irrelevant indicates that kind of incompetence which results from having no just bearing on the subject. Inadmissible indicates that form of incompetence which results from there being no suitable allegation in the pleading to justify admission. See
incapacity , 2. - Synonyms Insufficient, unfit, disqualified.
- n. An incompetent person; one who is mentally or physically deficient.
Wiktionary
- adj. Unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability, Northern Victorian Irrigation Renewal Project like see ombudsmans report.
- adj. Unable to make rational decisions, insane or otherwise cognitively impaired.
- n. A person who is incompetent.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not competent; wanting in adequate strength, power, capacity, means, qualifications, or the like; incapable; unable; inadequate; unfit.
- adj. (Law) Wanting the legal or constitutional qualifications; inadmissible.
- adj. Not lying within one's competency, capacity, or authorized power; not permissible.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not qualified or suited for a purpose
- adj. not doing a good job
- adj. legally not qualified or sufficient
- n. someone who is not competent to take effective action
- adj. showing lack of skill or aptitude
- adj. not meeting requirements
Examples
“SOHIL: (Foreign language spoken) LAWRENCE: Sohil, a 26-year-old student, says the rally is to condemn the American killing of civilians, as well as the U.S. support for what he calls the incompetent government of President Karzai.”
“This is in China, where they're having a problem with what they call incompetent drivers.”
“AZASM vice-president Donald Mankga said his organisation was identifying schools employing what it termed incompetent white teachers, and said these teachers would be removed.”
“Sohil, a 26-year-old student, says the rally sought to condemn the American killing of civilians and the U.S. support for what he calls the incompetent Karzai government.”
“Trump blames the problems on what he calls incompetent state bureaucrats and laments that had he been allowed to proceed, the facility would have been open by now.”
“Thousands of car drivers in the Ukrainian capital angrily blew their horns for several minutes Monday, protesting what they call incompetent and corrupt government policies that led to a devastating financial crisis.”
“Honesty had been the single trait most closely associated with Bush, but in the current survey "incompetent" is the descriptor used most frequently.”
“And a big part of calling them stupid or incompetent is to get them to be more rigorous next time round, and it works because no honest scientist wants to be seen as lacking rigor.”
“The (false) idea that teens are inherently irresponsible and incompetent is pushed by many powerful forces in America, most recently by people quite fraudently claiming that teen turmoil is the inevitable result of a "teen brain" (see my new article, "The Myth of the Teen Brain," in Scientific American Mind).”
Abolish High School?, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“It's ok if a doctor kills you ... being incompetent is how us republicans do things .”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘incompetent’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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Shadowkeir's list
This list, the one shown below this very message, is a collection of words that you cannot begin to fathom how much I adore. The list will also feature atithesis and contrasting words such as the t...
wishful, anticlimactic, forte, monchromatic, septic, wonderous, isoclinal, deformed, disintergrate, favourite, laughable, awe-inspiring and 250 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
grabbable, retuiteando, leaving, fantastic, absolutely, kurwa, hella, ridic, underpass, hate, interlude, plush and 2369 more... -
Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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dienekes's Words
chutzpah, lexicon, intrepid, pedagogical, schlemiel, schism, erudite, anathema, pugilist, jaunty, paradigm, automaton and 949 more...
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-ent
salient, sentient, sentiment, prominent, eminent, apparent, fervent, placement, predicament, malevolent, maleficent, beneficent and 89 more...
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jmjarmstrong's list
Words that I used to know.
geloscopy, hunker, willy nilly, harum scarum, whacko, meh, nork, misunderestimate, atrabiliousness, luftmensch, auxanometer, hyperhedonia and 1948 more...
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flight plan
words that remind me of airline travel
sardines, cramped, squashed, stuffy, odor, crick, boredom, imposition, bureaucracy, incompetent, inefficient, impatient and 25 more...
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Words Against Bush (and/or his admini...
These are words that have been used, might have been used, or could be used in association with the current president and/or his administration. They are only listed as a device to remind the read...
cowboy, naive, ignorant, vengeful, vindictive, grudge, petulant, angry, bully, immature, inexperienced, afraid and 85 more...
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Biting insults
Insults that walk that perfect line between overused and incomprehensible (because if you can't understand an insult, it doesn't have quite the same effect).
inept, repulsive, incompetent, lackwit, asinine, insipid, vapid, callow, hubris, artless, chauvinst, misanthropic and 22 more...
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That's What She Said
not to me, lest ye get confused ;)
incompetent, loser, pathetic, shameful, awkward, tiny, little, sad, weak, insufficient, inadequate, lame and 21 more...
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CoolPuppy's Words
cantankerous, contrived, imbecile, jackass, incompetent, chartreuse, charming, sophisticated, gentleman
Tweets
Looking for tweets for incompetent.

dailyword General Chang claimed Bones was this when he couldn't save Chancellor Gorkon. Aug 19, 2012
jmjarmstrong JM heard about an incompetent ship captain who grounds the warship he walks on. Aug 25, 2011