INCAPABLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does incapable mean? 

• INCAPABLE (adjective)
  The adjective INCAPABLE has 4 senses:

1. (followed by 'of') lacking capacity or ability

2. not being susceptible to or admitting of something (usually followed by 'of')

3. (followed by 'of') not having the temperament or inclination for

4. not meeting requirements

  Familiarity information: INCAPABLE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INCAPABLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(followed by 'of') lacking capacity or ability

Context example:

incapable of doing the work

Similar:

unable ((usually followed by 'to') lacking necessary physical or mental ability)

Also:

incompetent (not qualified or suited for a purpose)

Attribute:

capability; capableness (the quality of being capable -- physically or intellectually or legally)

capability; capableness; potentiality (an aptitude that may be developed)

Antonym:

capable ((usually followed by 'of') having capacity or ability)

Derivation:

incapability (the quality of not being capable -- physically or intellectually or legally)

incapableness (lack of potential for development)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not being susceptible to or admitting of something (usually followed by 'of')

Context example:

incapable of solution

Similar:

insusceptible; unsusceptible (not susceptible to)

Derivation:

incapability (the quality of not being capable -- physically or intellectually or legally)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(followed by 'of') not having the temperament or inclination for

Context example:

simply incapable of lying

Antonym:

capable ((followed by 'of') having the temperament or inclination for)

Derivation:

incapability (the quality of not being capable -- physically or intellectually or legally)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Not meeting requirements

Synonyms:

incapable; incompetent; unequal to

Context example:

unequal to the demands put upon him

Similar:

inadequate; unequal (lacking the requisite qualities or resources to meet a task)

Derivation:

incapability (the quality of not being capable -- physically or intellectually or legally)

 Context examples 

She breathed heavily, but was incapable of saying anything.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And yet he was absolutely incapable of working out the practical points which must be gone into before a case could be laid before a judge or jury.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was not that his brain was weak or incapable; it could think these thoughts were it not for lack of training in thinking and lack of the thought-tools with which to think.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o’clock, my friend and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, we hope, be incapable.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Always accompanied with an incapable motion of the head, but with no change of face.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

That, I suppose, was the difference of duties which struck you, as rendering the conditions incapable of comparison.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I have intimated my view of the case: I am incapable of taking any other.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Parted with; no longer held or possessed; incapable of being recovered or regained.

(Lost, NCI Thesaurus)

But the overflowing misery I now felt, and the excess of agitation that I endured rendered me incapable of any exertion.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

You are incapable of minute attention to detail.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)