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incompetent person

incompetent person

3 3.7
A person who does not have the skills or ability to do a task well
  • noun
  • /ˌɪnkəmˈpɛtənt ˈpɜrsən/
translation icon : persona incompetente
  • Hospitals fail to meet the principle of nonmaleficence when inadequate personnel policies allow poorly trained or otherwise incompetent persons to be hired and patients to be put at risk.

He has taken our country, wadded it up, spit on it, thrown it to the most incompetent people you could ever imagine.

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Examples

  • I doubt that any of us hate the prez; we just don't like having an incompetent person in the White House.

    Blog text (28)
  • A conservator generally is an individual appointed by the court to oversee property decisions for an incompetent person.

    Academic text (1999)
  • We did not realize what an incompetent person he would be as president.

    Blog text (32)
  • Spanish politicians are such incompetent people.

    Blog text (3)
  • You got to protect people from incompetent people doing stuff that's difficult.

  • He picked a totally incompetent person to be his VP running mate.

    Blog text (16)
  • In Belchertown v. Saikewicz, the court held that the right to refuse medical treatment... ...in appropriate circumstances extends to both competent and incompetent persons.

  • The purpose of this website is to allow translation buyers to search the blacklist database before hiring a translator, in order to avoid hiring incompetent people.

    Blog text (32)
  • It's frustrating to work with an incompetent person who doesn't understand the basics of the job.

  • Hiring an incompetent person can lead to serious problems in any project.

Synonyms

bozo
vsincompetent person
  • Offensive
59 8.8

A person who behaves in a silly or careless way

is more neutral and formal, focusing on lack of ability rather than insult
butcher
vsincompetent person
  • Offensive
10 7.5

A person who does a job very badly

focuses on lacking ability broadly, not only on botched outcomes
empty suit
vsincompetent person
  • Offensive
7 8.1

A person in a position of power who has no real skills

highlights lack of skill generally, not limited to those in positions
sad sack
vsincompetent person
  • Offensive
7 8.6

A person who often fails to do things well

is more neutral and describes lack of required ability rather than habit
incompetent
vsincompetent person
6 4.6

A person who is not able to do a job or task well

is the same meaning but usually expressed as a two-word descriptive phrase
unskilled person
vsincompetent person
2.8

A person who has not learned the skills needed for a job

applies to lacking any needed ability or qualification across tasks

How Competent

expert
3.2
skilled
172 3.5
competent
114 3.6
incompetent person
3 3.7
novice
46 3.4

Surface Forms

Morphology

incompetent + person

The meaning 'a person who lacks the necessary ability or skill' is directly and compositionally derived from combining the adjective 'incompetent' with the noun 'person'. This is a standard adjective + noun construction that is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the phrase.

Etymology

Incompetent person comes from the parts incompetent, literally 'not competent', and person, creating a clear image of someone who cannot do a job well. So, it is used to describe someone 'lacking the ability or skill' to perform a task.