Word.ws English Dictionary

incontinence

UK/ɪnˈkɒntɪnəns/

incontinence noun: lack of self-restraint, an inability to control oneself; unchastity.

Noun

incontinence (countable and uncountable, plural incontinences)

  1. (dated) Lack of self-restraint, an inability to control oneself; unchastity.
    • verbal incontinence
    • Allworthy was ſufficiently offended by this Tranſgreſſion of Jones; for notwithſtanding the Aſſertions of Mr. Weſtern, it is certain this worthy Man had never indulged himſelf in any looſe Pleaſures with Women, and greatly condemned the Vice of Incontinence in others.1749, Henry Fielding, “The Narrow Escape of Molly Seagrim, […]”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume II, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV, page 79
  2. The inability of any of the physical organs to restrain discharges of their contents; involuntary discharge or evacuation (of urine or feces).
    • The objective is to make life easier for male colleagues and customers with urinary incontinence.2024 July 10, “Network News: 'Boys Need Bins' backed by GTR”, in RAIL, number 1013, page 23

incontinence meaning in Tamil and Arabic

incontinence in Tamil

நீரொழுக்கு, மலமொழுக்கு, ஒழுக்கு, சிறுநீர், மலம் முதலியன உணர்வற்ற வெளியேற்றம், உணர்வற்ற உடல்கழிவு வெளியேற்றம்

incontinence in Arabic

inability to restrain discharge
سَلَس salas

Synonyms of incontinence

Antonyms

Forms of incontinence

pluralincontinences

Origin of incontinence

From Middle English incontinence, from Old French incontinence or its etymon Latin incontinentia. Doublet of incontinency.

Words formed from incontinence

Phrases with incontinence

Questions about incontinence

What does incontinence mean?
Incontinence means lack of self-restraint, an inability to control oneself; unchastity.
What is incontinence in Tamil?
Incontinence in Tamil is நீரொழுக்கு, மலமொழுக்கு, ஒழுக்கு. See Incontinence meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is incontinence?
Incontinence is a noun.
How do you pronounce incontinence?
Incontinence is pronounced /ɪnˈkɒntɪnəns/ (UK).
What is the plural of incontinence?
The plural of incontinence is incontinences.

Words near incontinence in the dictionary

  1. incontestibility
  2. incontestible
  3. incontestibly
  4. incontiguous
  5. incontiguously
  6. incontinence
  7. incontinence briefs
  8. incontinence pad
  9. incontinence pads
  10. incontinence pants
  11. incontinence slip

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: incontinence (page history and authors); incontinence (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-incontinence.wav.

Cite this entry: “incontinence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/incontinence. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.