incompetence
(ɪnˈkɒmpɪtəns)
[a. F. incompétence (1549 in R. Estienne), f. in- (in-3) + compétence: after incompetent.]
† 1. Inadequacy, insufficiency. Obs.
| 1663 Flagellum, or O. Cromwell (1672) 160 The niggardliness and incompetence of his reward. |
2. a. The fact or condition of being personally or practically incompetent; want of competence; lack of the requisite ability, power, or qualification; incapacity.
| a 1716 South Serm. (1744) VII. xiv. 302 That Incompetence arises from this: That no Man can judge rightly of two Things, but by comparing them together. 1795–1814 Wordsw. Excurs. viii. 13 Therefore no incompetence of mine Could do them wrong. 1812 W. Godwin in C. K. Paul W. Godwin (1876) II. 213 The feeling I had in myself of an incompetence for the education of daughters. 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 201 The incompetence of the tradesman to whom the work is entrusted. |
b. Med. Inability to function correctly; esp. inadequacy of a valve or sphincter properly to regulate the passage of liquid or solid matter.
| 1876 Trans. Clin. Soc. IX. 47, I found..on examination, incompetence of the aortic and mitral valves. 1890 F. Taylor Man. Pract. Med. 458 Incompetence of the aortic valves gives rise to a murmur during the dilatation of the ventricle. 1900 Dorland Med. Dict. s.v., Pyloric i[ncompetence], passage of food undigested into the intestine. 1939 Dible & Davie Path. xxxii. 535 If there has been much necrosis, contraction, or deformity of the valve curtain, a definite degree of incompetence will be left. 1950 Amer. Jrnl. Obstetr. & Gynecol. LIX. 69 The symptoms of the incompetence of the internal os are chiefly those of habitual abortion. 1970 Med. Jrnl. Austral. 25 July 179/1 The incidence of round ligament vein incompetence in women greatly exceeds that of short saphenous vein incompetence. 1971 Gut XII. 102 Of 19 patients.., 17 (89%) exhibited duodenogastric reflux of barium indicating pyloric incompetence. 1971 Biol. Abstr. LII. 8355/1 Gonadotropic hormones, the prostate and an experimental model of its incompetence. |
3. Of a logical conclusion: Want of legitimacy or propriety; faultiness: = incompetency 3.
| 1837–8 Sir W. Hamilton Logic (1860) II. 465 It shows at a glance the competence or incompetence of any Conclusion. |