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incompatible Definition

in·com·pat·ible (in′kəm pat′ə bəl)

adjective

  1. not compatible; specif.,
    1. not able to exist in harmony or agreement
    2. not going, or getting along, well together; incongruous, conflicting, discordant, etc.: often followed by with
  2. that cannot be held at one time by the same person: said of positions, ranks, etc.
  3. Logic
    1. that cannot both be true at the same time: said of propositions
    2. not predicable of the same subject without contradiction: said of terms
  4. Math. logically contradictory: said of equations or other statements
  5. Med., Pharmacy not suitable for being mixed or used together: said of substances having an undesirable action on each other or, when mixed, on the body

Etymology: ML incompatibilis

noun

an incompatible person or thing: usually used in pl.

incompatible Related Forms

in·com′·pat′·ibil′·ity noun pl. -·ties in·com′·pat′·ibly adverb

incompatible Synonyms

incompatible

modif.

inconsistent, contrary, clashing, conflicting, inappropriate, unsuited, mismatched, contradictory, disagreeing, antagonistic, antipathetic, factious, unadapted, opposite, jarring, discordant, inharmonious, irreconcilable, incoherent, inadmissible; see also opposed, unsuitable.

incompatible Usage Examples

Preposition: with

  • convention: Thus s 114 was not incompatible with the Convention.
  • purpose: The information must not be used in a manner incompatible with those purposes.
  • notion: These practices are incompatible with the notion of promoting the welfare of the child.
  • existence: Social Darwinism is incompatible with the existence of social facts.
  • string: This function is incompatible with a strings with embedded nulls.
  • democracy: Perhaps it would be more useful to say that any religion, on a literal reading of their scriptures, is incompatible with democracy.

Modifies a noun

  • transfusion: The patient had no detectable anti-A and suffered no ill effects as a result of the major ABO incompatible transfusion.
  • format: You're the one that's using an esoteric, incompatible format.
  • browser: You may need to enable SSL ( Secure Sockets Layer ) within your browser, or you may be using an incompatible browser.
  • substance: Control measures include ventilation, avoiding ignition sources, and keeping incompatible substances apart.
  • hardware: See Appendix B Linux Incompatible Hardware for specific cards known not to work with Linux.
  • interface: And in any new class library you acquire, some other incompatible interface will be used.

Modifying Another Word

  • mutually: How do we prevent them to be mutually incompatible?
  • fundamentally: This is fundamentally incompatible with the reasons for the American invasion.
  • logically: Despite being logically incompatible, these truths are of the utmost factually veracity.
  • seemingly: Regardless of the topic, a unified theory, as sated above, seeks to explain seemingly incompatible aspects of various theories.
  • inherently: He frequently clashed with Jean-Paul Sartre and others who combined Marxism with psychoanalysis, structuralism and other philosophical currents inherently incompatible with Marxism.
  • wholly: Those actions are wholly incompatible with a gift to him of the money that led to their purchase.

Used with adjective complement

  • seem: A career seems incompatible with the idea of having children, which is probably why I've copped out of that.
  • prove: There is always a risk that a student may prove incompatible with their placement.