How to Use incompetent in a Sentence

incompetent

adjective
Definition of incompetentnext
Synonyms for incompetentnext
  • The defendant was declared incompetent to stand trial.
  • The patient is mentally incompetent.
  • He is too incompetent to be trusted with such an important responsibility.
  • But the Jets have already pushed their pieces to the middle and would look incompetent if this deal doesn’t get done.
    — Michael Arinze, Chicago Tribune, 21 Mar. 2023
  • The more one had, the more likely one would be declared incompetent.
    — Shannon Toll, The Conversation, 23 Oct. 2023
  • Even Democrats have agreed that – that he's been completely incompetent and not on the ball there, so to say.
    — Nbc Universal, NBC News, 21 Jan. 2024
  • And in the 2019 bank robbery case, she was found incompetent to stand trial.
    — David K. Li, NBC News, 26 July 2022
  • Pause for a walk, some tea, deep breaths Think driver who was yelled at is just incompetent?
    — Lizzy Acker, oregonlive, 7 Mar. 2023
  • She has been deemed incompetent by the nursing home and therefore can’t name me as a contact.
    — Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 28 July 2023
  • The suspect in the Boulder shooting was deemed incompetent to stand trial in March.
    — Anna Kaplan, Forbes, 14 May 2022
  • Two — ages 14 and 10 — were found incompetent to stand trial.
    — jsonline.com, 20 Apr. 2022
  • Hundreds of inmates in the Bexar County jail have been deemed incompetent to stand trial, but that could change soon.
    — Scott Huddleston, San Antonio Express-News, 3 Apr. 2023
  • For months, Prigozhin had berated them as incompetent, corrupt and out-of-touch.
    — Mary Ilyushina, Anchorage Daily News, 26 June 2023
  • But don’t come at me for being incompetent and clueless as a parent.
    — Saul Austerlitz, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2024
  • People who have been deemed incompetent sit in county jails until a spot opens.
    — Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 July 2023
  • The film’s younger guys dress in fake fur and act like Neanderthals, while the middle-aged men who have jobs are portrayed as incompetent nincompoops.
    — Susan Pinker, WSJ, 21 Sep. 2023
  • Over the last 20 years, the number of people classified as incompetent to stand trial has increased by 38%.
    — Dallas News, 25 Jan. 2023
  • Over the course of 10 years, she was alternately found competent and then incompetent to stand trial in court.
    — Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2024
  • Julie Su is so incompetent that Biden has decided to promote her.
    — John Fund, National Review, 23 Apr. 2023
  • These gruff, protective TV dads are a stark contrast to one of the most pervasive archetypes of the medium: the lovably incompetent dads most often seen in sitcoms.
    — Elvia Limón, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2023
  • Arizona’s offense averaged just 13 points in those three games, an incompetent showing that has doomed the Cardinals to a middle-of-the-pack 3-4 record.
    — Greg Moore, The Arizona Republic, 30 Oct. 2022
  • That could give Janelle James, who plays the sometimes incompetent but always funny principal Ava, her chance to walk up onto the Emmy stage.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 27 Apr. 2023
  • This incompetent Biden administration is somehow trying to spin the loss of the House and the possible loss of the Senate as a victory.
    — WSJ, 14 Nov. 2022
  • The wait to find hospital beds for inmates deemed incompetent to stand trial isn’t the only delay those inmates face.
    — Dallas News, 25 Jan. 2023
  • The plea deal ends a case that has spanned four and a half years, including a time where Inocencio was believed to be mentally incompetent to stand trial.
    — Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, 8 Feb. 2024
  • She was being held at Tarrant County Jail and had been deemed incompetent to stand trial, the lawsuit stated.
    — Hojun Choi, Dallas News, 26 June 2023
  • Durham doesn’t need to do a report to show what an incompetent investigation looks like: His team modeled it.
    — Marcy Wheeler, The New Republic, 27 Oct. 2022
  • They’ve likely been found incompetent to stand trial, and their charges — unless murder — are dropped, the department said in a statement.
    — Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2023
  • Cawthorn ultimately proved to be reckless and incompetent in a way the GOP couldn’t tolerate, but that doesn’t mean that the larger model is being thrown out.
    — Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 20 May 2022
  • In her first feature, River of Grass, two incompetent would-be criminals lack the funds and motivation to properly go on the run.
    — Vikram Murthi, The New Republic, 12 Apr. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'incompetent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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