[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/incompetence/)

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# incompetence

noun (incompetence)

«incompetence» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

Lack of the skill or ability needed to do a job properly; doing something badly because you do not know how. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/incompetence/#m1)

### In the lessons

In stories and news it explains why things went wrong — a careless worker, a bungling villain. In adult-life lessons people can lose jobs for incompetence. Phrases: «sheer incompetence», «through incompetence», «gross incompetence» (formal).

### Examples

- The bridge fell down because of the builder's incompetence. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/incompetence/#x1)
- The robbers' incompetence made the story funny. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/incompetence/#x2)
- Toad's incompetence at driving caused many crashes. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/incompetence/#x3)
- She was angry at the incompetence of the company that lost her parcel. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/incompetence/#x4)
- Losing the keys three times was pure incompetence. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/incompetence/#x5)
- The coach was blamed for the team's incompetence. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/incompetence/#x6)

### Note

Uncountable. Adjective «incompetent», opposite «competent» and «competence». It means lack of skill, not lack of effort — a lazy expert is not incompetent. Strong word; can be rude to say to a person.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «incompetence» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/incompetence/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«incompetence» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/incompetence.html) on Mova free.