inefficacy
- noun
- /ˌɪnˈɛfɪkəsi/
- The inefficacy of the proposed solution became evident when the issue persisted despite repeated attempts to implement it.
Examples
-
Attentional control can strongly influence sources of input: children are increasingly able to shift attention away from threatening stimuli and internal feelings of inefficacy; at the same time, they can more readily focus on positive information, which can lead to improved self-evaluations relating to feelings of efficacy and success.
Academic text (1998) -
Plaintiffs may argue that their inability to learn or perform is ascribed to the inefficacy of the teacher/coach to properly instruct.
Academic text (1991) -
As a result, it is not clear that the inefficacy of the campaigns in 1999 and 2009 was fundamentally different.
Academic text (2013) -
It's about the inefficacy of romantic dogmas on young people's expectations.
-
Similarly, I find your arguments for the inefficacy of energy conservation less than conclusive.
Blog text (23) -
It does, however, highlight the inefficacy of rehashing past policy approaches.
Academic text (2009) -
The slide into rampant lawlessness and insecurity was no doubt related to the state's weakness, inefficacy, and, in some cases, even absence.
Academic text (2004) -
The negotiated end to the Korean War indicated the inefficacy of American military intervention in Asia, and popular belief that whole nations were at risk of Communist torture had to make Buck's focus on single children seem woefully limited.
Academic text (2012) -
In this study, Risk-Takers in some grades relied on withdrawal as a contraceptive method and might therefore benefit from emphasis on its inefficacy, in addition to encouragement to increase condom use or decrease partner numbers.
Academic text (2005) -
In order to make such a determination, Benjamin locates the root of the latter's manifest inefficacy in the way in which it typically defines and deploys the concept of commitment or tendency (Tendenz) in the work of art.
Academic text (2002)
Synonyms
A situation when work wastes time, money or effort
Not able to produce the result you want
A lack of ability to make plans or actions produce the wanted result
The state of not producing the intended result
A lack of ability to make something have the result you want
Not doing much useful work or making progress
A state of not being useful
Antonyms
How Ineffective
Surface Forms
Morphology
inefficacy = efficacy (semi-transparent) = in + effic + acy
Given knowledge of 'efficacy', the prefix 'in-' straightforwardly adds negation, yielding the meaning 'lack of efficacy'.
Etymology
The word inefficacy is built from in- meaning 'not' and efficacy, from a root meaning 'to produce' that you see in effect and effective. So inefficacy means 'not producing' and shows why it describes something that does not have the power to get the result it should.