inept
/i'nept/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Lacking skill or ability; incompetent: Describes someone who is not good at doing something, often resulting in ineffective or poor performance.
- Not suitable or appropriate; out of place: Describes something that is not fitting for the situation or context.
- Awkward or clumsy in expression or execution: Describes actions, words, or styles that are graceless, tactless, or poorly judged.
Examples of Usage
- Adjective:
- His inept management led to the project's failure.
- Making jokes at a funeral is an inept choice.
- She gave an inept apology that only made the situation worse.
Advanced Usage
- "to be inept at (something)": to be unskilled or incompetent in a particular area.
- He is completely inept at public speaking.
- "inept handling": poor or clumsy management of a situation.
- The inept handling of the crisis caused public outrage.
Variants and Related Words
- Ineptitude (n): The quality or state of being inept; incompetence.
- The team's ineptitude was obvious to everyone.
- Ineptly (adv): In an inept manner.
- The procedure was ineptly performed.
Synonyms
- Incompetent: Not having the necessary skills to do something successfully.
- Clumsy: Awkward in movement or action; lacking skill or grace.
- Tactless: Having or showing a lack of skill and sensitivity in dealing with others or with difficult issues.
- Maladroit: Ineffective or bungling; clumsy.
Antonyms
- Competent: Having the necessary ability, knowledge, or skill to do something successfully.
- Adept: Very skilled or proficient at something.
- Skillful: Having or showing skill.
- Tactful: Having or showing skill and sensitivity in dealing with others or with difficult issues.
Related Idioms and Phrases
- All thumbs: Very clumsy or awkward with one's hands. (This idiom conveys a similar sense of physical ineptness.)
- I'm all thumbs when it comes to fixing things.
- Out of one's depth: In a situation that is too difficult to handle due to a lack of skill or knowledge.
- The new manager was out of his depth and made several inept decisions.
Adjective
- revealing lack of perceptiveness or judgment or finesse
- an inept remark
- it was tactless to bring up those disagreeable
- generally incompetent and ineffectual
- feckless attempts to repair the plumbing
- inept handling of the account
- not elegant or graceful in expression
- an awkward prose style
- a clumsy apology
- his cumbersome writing style
- if the rumor is true, can anything be more inept than to repeat it now?