Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
incontinent

incontinent

9 7.9
Not able to control passing urine or poop
  • adjective
  • /ɪnˈkɒntɪnənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : incontinente
  • They decided to use special pads for the incontinent dog to help manage the situation at home.
  • incontinent patients
  • become incontinent
  • faecally incontinent

He's like feeble and, and in, in, in incontinent.

Examples

  • "Elena had just cleaned and changed an irascible and incontinent patient, a woman in her late 80s."

    Academic text (1994)

  • I'm not so young anymore and I'm, how do you say, a little incontinent.

    Clerks (1994)

  • "Come in, sit down, answer my questions, are you incontinent?" The doctor was young, in a hurry, impatient.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • My incontinent old Airedale had to be put down last year.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • A majority suffer from dementia; most cannot walk or bathe themselves without assistance; many are incontinent.

    Academic text (1997)

  • I would have been there in a heartbeat, but I actually just adopted this incontinent spaniel.

    This Is the End (2013)

  • After her surgery, she found herself being incontinent and needed to adjust to her new situation.

  • The elderly man was incontinent, which made it challenging for his caregivers to keep him comfortable.

Synonyms

leaky
vsincontinent
  • Informal
2 6.3

Unable to stop urine from coming out by accident

includes inability to control urination and defecation rather than urine only

Antonyms

continent
  • Specialized
8.7

Able to control when you pee and when you poo

How Controlled

continent
  • Specialized
8.7
leaky
  • Informal
2 6.3
incontinent
  • Specialized
9 7.9

Surface Forms

incontinent positive

Morphology

incontinent = continent (semi-transparent) = in + continent

The negative prefix is clear, but the relevant adjective 'continent' is uncommon and specialized, so many learners would not readily infer the medical meaning.

Etymology

Incontinent breaks into in- 'not' and continere 'to hold', the same idea you see in the word contain. So, being incontinent is literally 'not able to hold' yourself, which is why it means unable to control going to the toilet.