1
as in incompetent
lacking qualities (as knowledge, skill, or ability) required to do a job
an unskillful editor can be worse than none at all
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in inexperienced
lacking or showing a lack of expert skill
some painfully unskillful playing by the band's guitarist
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unskillful
It was intended to be a mockery of the way White people danced, though plantation owners often interpreted slaves' movements as unskillful attempts to be like them.
—
Scottie Andrew and Harmeet Kaur, CNN, 6 July 2020
As is often the case, Louie was unlucky — and also unskillful.
—Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 12 Mar. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unskillful
Adjective
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In that case, he was found incompetent to stand trial and the case was referred to Hamilton County Probate Court.—
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In Indiana, there are five death row inmates, with one of the inmates being deemed incompetent to stand trial.—
Adjective
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Jokic didn’t overtake Jamal Murray as Denver’s leading scorer until their seventh game of the season, after a 33-point performance Wednesday against a Miami Heat frontcourt that was woefully undersized and inexperienced the instant Bam Adebayo exited with a foot injury.—
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Henderson has struggled in that role as a rookie, and Jennings is inexperienced at the pro level.—
Adjective
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To receive one of these designations from a doctor in this era was to be marked as unfit for society and a candidate for potential institution and sterilization.—
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Families of victims, human rights defenders and international bodies such as the UN have criticized the commissions for a lack of transparency, for being ineffective and ultimately unfit for delivering accountability.—
Adjective
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Webster learned that the FBI, media organizations, and amateur internet sleuths were using facial-recognition software to identify those who’d stormed the Capitol.—
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But to unmask the killer in a mansion filled with ticking clocks and suspects, amateur detective Eileen must first get round discouragement from Lady Caterham, played by Helena Bonham Carter, and Sherlock star Martin Freeman as superintendent Battle.—
Adjective
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Mix Materials The beauty in the unfitted kitchen aesthetic is found in its collected look.—
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The venerable American clan at the center of the narrator’s reminiscences are wholly unfitted to the modern world and no longer endowed with the fortune that one of them brought home long ago on clipper ships.—
Adjective
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Crawford pushes back against stereotypes that frame blue-collar labor as unskilled, pointing to the intelligence required to understand the technical aspects of complex systems while translating that knowledge to customers.—
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Complex negotiations in large organizations often fail—not because the negotiators are inexperienced or unskilled but because they’re constrained by two structural challenges, agency and alignment, and by the ways organizations manage those challenges.—
Adjective
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Today, however, these folks seem to be incapable of smiling while carrying out their governmental duties or speaking to the press or to Congress.—
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But regardless of the system the head coach plays, West Ham are incapable of keeping a clean sheet.—
Cite this Entry
“Unskillful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unskillful. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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