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Incompetence vs Inadequate - What's the difference?

incompetence | inadequate |

As a noun incompetence

is incompetence.

As an adjective inadequate is

.

incompetence

English

Noun

(-)
  • Inability to perform; lack of competence; ineptitude.
  • * 1851:
    • ... at the head of a crew, too, chiefly made up of mongrel renegades, and castaways, and cannibals--morally enfeebled also, by the incompetence of mere unaided virtue or right-mindedness in Starbuck
  • * 1949:
    • Winston did not know why Withers had been disgraced. Perhaps it was for corruption or incompetence . Perhaps Big Brother was merely getting rid of a too-popular subordinate.
  • * 1974:
    • The factory where she worked was a poisonous mass of incompetence , favoritism, and sabotage.

    Related terms

    * competency * incompetency

    inadequate

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Not adequate; unequal to the purpose; insufficient; deficient; as, inadequate resources, power, conceptions, representations, etc.
  • * 2013 June 18, , " Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders," New York Times (retrieved 21 June 2013):
    • In a convulsion that has caught many in Brazil and beyond by surprise, waves of protesters denounced their leaders for dedicating so many resources to cultivating Brazil’s global image by building stadiums for international events, when basic services like education and health care remain woefully inadequate .