Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use inept in a sentence

13 example sentences · adjective

Inept means not able to do something; not proficient; displaying incompetence. Example: “As a waiter, he was inept, so they put him in the kitchen.”

Examples of inept by meaning

adjectiveNot able to do something; not proficient; displaying incompetence.

  • As a waiter, he was inept, so they put him in the kitchen.

More sentences with inept

  • Louis slang for redneck) with an inept, habitual tendency to commit petty crimes.2015, Pate McMichael, Klandestine: How a Klan Lawyer and a Checkbook Journalist ..., page 2. From the entry hoosier
  • But Berg was just a fool, a buffoon, a nonentity, a nonstarter so inept he took naps under bear bair.1999, Dana Stabenow, Hunter's Moon, →ISBN, page 225. From the entry nonstarter
  • In these pages, an astute Sherlock Holmesian character solves all kinds of mysteries with help from a somewhat inept Dr.1984 August 21, Deborah H. Williams, “Storytime”, in The Evening Press, Binghamton, N.Y., page 1C, column 1. From the entry Dr. Watsonish
  • Secondly, the members of the Oporto Junta were no better than inept doddards, none of whom possessed any personal prestige.1947, Marcus Cheke, chapter XXVII, in Carlota Joaquina, Queen of Portugal, Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, published 1969…. From the entry doddard
  • The Homer Simpsons and Peter Griffins continue to uphold the false narrative that fathers are inept at supporting their spouse and nurturing their children.2024, Lorin Shahinian, “From Flipping Burgers to Flipping Fatherhood”, in The Animated Dad: Essays on Father Figures in Cartoon Television. From the entry Peter Griffin
  • When schizophrenia and autism, for example, turned out to be largely heritable, we no longer blamed these disorders on cold or inept mothers.2021 September 6, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, “Can Progressives Be Convinced That Genetics Matters?”, in The New Yorker. From the entry à la carte
  • Yet for so public a figure, Jackson was socially awkward, inept at small talk and terrified when the distant audience became an adoring mob.2009 June 10, John Cloud, “Michael Jackson 1958–2009”, in Time, archived from the original on 19 Sep 2010. From the entry small talk
  • For 15 years Marley has been singing of a benighted people caught up in the octopal tentacles of an inept and often corrupt government.2009, Hank Bordowitz, Every Little Thing Gonna Be Alright: The Bob Marley Reader, Da Capo Press, →ISBN. From the entry octopal
  • If the army were as inept as you claim it to be, the U.S. would now be a territory of either England or Germany.1998 April 21, Speerjf, “Marine Corps/Army question”, in alt.folklore.military (Usenet), archived from the original on 03 Jun 2026. From the entry chickenpoop
  • I entitled the piece "Dorky", dork being slang for a person who does not belong to popular groups, usually an outsider, an odd person, sometimes inept, other times cranky.1962, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Last year at Marienbad, page 167. From the entry dorky
  • The holy praise, the prayer dealing with holiness par excellence, would be an inept designation in view of the use of the Trisagion in the liturgy.1909, David de Sola Pool, “Appendix A”, in The Kaddish: Inaugural Dissertation, W. Drugulin in Leipzig, pages 100–101. From the entry trisagion
  • To a person as socially inept as myself, this is almost as soaringly high on the cringeometer as his insistence on speaking Spanish to the Mexican waitress throughout the evening.2019 October 19, “Ron Mackenna: Scotland’s newest Michelin star where even the least favourite course is very good”, in The Herald…. From the entry cringeometer

Meaning of inept

  1. adjective Not able to do something; not proficient; displaying incompetence.
  2. adjective Unfit; unsuitable.

Full definition of inept

Questions about inept in a sentence

How do you use inept in a sentence?
Inept is used as an adjective. For example: “As a waiter, he was inept, so they put him in the kitchen.”
What is a short sentence with inept?
“As a waiter, he was inept, so they put him in the kitchen.”
What does inept mean?
Inept means not able to do something; not proficient; displaying incompetence.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: inept (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use inept in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/inept. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.