1
as in incompetent
lacking qualities (as knowledge, skill, or ability) required to do a job
an unskillful editor can be worse than none at all
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in inexperienced
lacking or showing a lack of expert skill
some painfully unskillful playing by the band's guitarist
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of unskillful
It was intended to be a mockery of the way White people danced, though plantation owners often interpreted slaves' movements as unskillful attempts to be like them.
—
Scottie Andrew and Harmeet Kaur, CNN, 6 July 2020
As is often the case, Louie was unlucky — and also unskillful.
—Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 12 Mar. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unskillful
Adjective
-
When their citizens rose up to object to a government that cared more about Iran’s wishes than their own, the states were too hollow and incompetent to crush the uprising.Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 2 Dec. 2024
-
Williams was offered reassurance, primarily by Poles, that all that failure was a thing of the past, missteps made by previous incompetent regimes.Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 30 Nov. 2024
Adjective
-
The head of the ruling People Power Party turned course from Thursday in announcing that the president is unfit to lead the country.Joohee Cho, ABC News, 7 Dec. 2024
-
The team used a P.E. locker room at the stadium since the normal visitors locker room has been unfit for use recently due to a sewage issue, according to MCSD public information officer Matt Jenkins.Kyle Newman, The Denver Post, 26 Nov. 2024
Adjective
-
Fritz could acquire land near the city, hire both skilled and unskilled labor, and insert his new company in the trade and finance links the city had with the outside world, thanks to the social capital present in the city and his access to it.Peter Vanham, Fortune, 6 Sep. 2024
-
The researchers use a number of examples: the toolmaking done by our primate relatives, asking unskilled humans to make a stone tool, and random chipping of rocks.John Timmer, Ars Technica, 18 June 2024
Adjective
-
This isn’t to say that Leith and Hollywood are incapable of doing their job because of their age.Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 28 Nov. 2024
-
This rhetoric continues conservatives’ history of weaponizing research showing that trans people are more likely to be diagnosed as autistic than cis people in order to baselessly argue that trans youth — and autistic people — are incapable of making their own decisions about their healthcare care.Abby Monteil, Them, 26 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near unskillful
Cite this Entry
“Unskillful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unskillful. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share