the quality or state of being unable; lack of ability, capacity, means, or power
Origin of inability
Middle English inabilite: see in- and ability
noun
The definition of inability is the state of having no power or a lack of ability.
An example of inability is not understanding how to operate a computer.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"inability." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/inability>.
APA Style
inability. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/inability
inability
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"inability." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/inability>.
APA Style
inability. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/inability
inability
noun
Lack of ability or means.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"inability." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/inability>.
APA Style
inability. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/inability
Origin
From Middle French inhabilité, from Medieval Latin inhabilitas
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"inability." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/inability>.
APA Style
inability. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/inability
Sentence Examples
- Maybe his inability to talk makes you feel unsure.
- Alliances with various land powers, and an inability to understand the true relations which alone could unite the league, combined to alienate the allies, who could discover no reason for the expenditure of their contributions on protecting Sparta or Corinth against Thebes.
- In the slighter forms no inconvenience may result; but in higher degrees prolonged work is apt to give rise to aching and watering of the eyes, headache, inability to read or sew for any length of time, and even to double vision and internal strabismus.
- If he was self-conscious about his inability to talk, he gave no indication.
- I made no effort to teach her to speak, because I regarded her inability to watch the lips of others as an insurmountable obstacle.
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WORDS NEAR inability IN THE DICTIONARY
- inability
- inable
- inablement
- inablements