inability

[ in-uh-bil-i-tee ]

noun

1. lack of ability; lack of power, capacity, or means:

   his inability to make decisions.

   Synonyms: incapability, incompetence, impotence, incapacity

inability

/ ˌɪnəˈbɪlɪtɪ /

noun

1. lack of ability or means; incapacity

Word History and Origins

Origin of inability¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English inabilite, from Medieval Latin inhabilitās; equivalent to in- ³ + ability

Synonym Study

See disability.

Example Sentences

Besides the emotional toll resulting from a sense of loneliness and a general feeling of being misunderstood, there are practical concerns such as the inability to lip-read through masks.

From Popular-Science

The teams struggled to overcome labor-intensive manual processing and an inability to quickly deliver content through their app and print channels.

From Digiday

Symptoms of the more extreme versions include sadness, anxiety, extreme fatigue and an inability to concentrate, among others.

From Popular-Science

Abloh has often been criticized for his inability to connect with us.

From Essence.com

State health officials say the unpredictable shipments have led to chaos on the ground, including the inability to quickly use up all of the doses sent to them.

From ProPublica

But the inability to measure progress in the ISIS campaign is widespread.

From The Daily Beast

The inability to do anything besides binge-watch entire seasons on Netflix.

From The Daily Beast

I recognize my inability to truly understand these events in the same context or view these events through exactly the same prism.

From The Daily Beast

The scriptural Moses is defined by his frailties, his inability to act.

From The Daily Beast

The second is strangled tongue disease, the English inability to express real feelings in conversation.

From The Daily Beast

To talk of an excess of labor, or an inability to employ it, in such a country as Ireland, is to insult the general understanding.

From Project Gutenberg

Mere hastiness or slovenliness of work is not identical with the effect of inability to achieve mechanical neatness.

From Project Gutenberg

And the truth of the depravity of man and his inability to restore himself to God's favour ought to be maintained.

From Project Gutenberg

Walter Fetherston was ever regretting his inability to put any of the confidential information he acquired into his books.

From Project Gutenberg

The impatience of restraint you speak of and her very inability to brook opposition can be turned to good account now.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• failure
• impotence
• incompetence
• inefficiency
• ineptitude
• lack
• shortcoming
• weakness