incompetence

Everyday

Lack of the skill or ability needed to do a job properly; doing something badly because you do not know how. tree →

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 →
• The robbers' incompetence made the story funny. tree →
• Toad's incompetence at driving caused many crashes. tree →
• She was angry at the incompetence of the company that lost her parcel. tree →
• Losing the keys three times was pure incompetence. tree →
• The coach was blamed for the team's incompetence. tree →

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.