adjective
- not competent; lacking qualification or ability; incapable: an incompetent candidate.
- characterized by or showing incompetence: His incompetent acting ruined the play.
- Law.
- being unable or legally unqualified to perform specified acts or to be held legally responsible for such acts.
- inadmissible, as evidence.
noun
- an incompetent person; a mentally deficient person.
- Law. a person lacking power to act with legal effectiveness.
adjective
- not possessing the necessary ability, skill, etc to do or carry out a task; incapable
- marked by lack of ability, skill, etc
- law not legally qualifiedan incompetent witness
- (of rock strata, folds, etc) yielding readily to pressure so as to undergo structural deformation
noun
- an incompetent person
1610s, “insufficient,” from French incompétent, from Late Latin incompetentem (nominative incompetens) “insufficient,” from in- “not” (see in- (1)) + Latin competentem (see competent). Sense of “lacking qualification or ability” first recorded 1630s. The noun meaning “incompetent person” is from 1866. Related: Incompetently.
adj.
- Inadequate for or unsuited to a particular purpose or application.
- Incapable of proper functioning.
- Not qualified in legal terms.