as in inability
the lack of sufficient ability, power, or means
the nurse's ineptitude made it clear that she would be happier in a different line of work
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ineptitude
The New England Patriots have been enjoying something of a dream season after several years of mostly ineptitude following Tom Brady's departure in 2020.
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Robert Marvi, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Nov. 2025
Someone usually pays in the NFL for this kind of ineptitude.
—CBS News, 25 Nov. 2025
Long has another double-digit tackling game and the Rams defense plays decently in the first half, but the ineptitude of the CSU offense remains an Achilles’ heel.
—Kyle Newman, Denver Post, 7 Nov. 2025
The sequence is a duet of official ineptitude, ending with Tara easily giving an entire MI5 surveillance team the slip and a piece of computer code shutting down all the monitors at Park.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 22 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ineptitude
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ineptitude
inability
Noun
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Russia and China, though chastened by their inability to protect Venezuela, retain a strong interest in propping up Havana, given Cuba’s location just 90 miles south of Key West.—
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Forster’s novel may have been written in 1913 (and published, posthumously, in 1971), but its portrayal of Alec and Maurice’s inability to openly articulate their love remains evergreen.—
Cite this Entry
“Ineptitude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ineptitude. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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