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
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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
Example Sentences
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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
One of the most fraught issues around suicide clusters is unskillful media coverage, which studies suggest can spur copycats.
—Kate Siber, Outside Online, 4 Sep. 2018
As is often the case, Louie was unlucky — and also unskillful.
—Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 12 Mar. 2017
Scottie Andrew and Harmeet Kaur, CNN, 6 July 2020
One of the most fraught issues around suicide clusters is unskillful media coverage, which studies suggest can spur copycats.
—Kate Siber, Outside Online, 4 Sep. 2018
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
-
Maybe Dan’s buddy Henry (Jake Curran) is even more incompetent than previously hinted at, in terms of aiding and abetting a homicide.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Sports franchises everywhere can be tacky, rapacious, incompetent, extortionate, and otherwise exploitative, but only because their customers, the fans, are essentially captives.—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Maybe the bright lights of a win-or-go-home playoff game proved too big of a moment for a young, inexperienced Hawks team.—
Kristian Winfield,
New York Daily News,
1 May 2026
-
Edmonton showed off its postseason poise in Game 5, throttling the Ducks in a 4-1 victory and putting the onus on their inexperienced opponents to finish off the series.—
Greg Beacham,
Los Angeles Times,
1 May 2026
Adjective
-
Trump—fixated on securing his legacy with a ballroom and a triumphal arch—appears increasingly erratic, unfocused, and unfit for the job assigned to him.—
John Whitehead,
Oc Register,
23 Apr. 2026
-
If venue personnel deem any person to be a threat, or otherwise unfit, in their sole discretion, he or she will not be permitted access and shall forfeit the prize.—
AJC.com,
AJC.com,
23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Odom was divorced from Herbert Odom, a prominent Black South Side dentist and amateur boxer.—
Bob Goldsborough,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Here, research has revealed, for example, how audience and journalistic frames interact and compete in liveblogs, where in a space of potential co-production, journalists still reframe amateur contributions by appending their own frames onto them.—
Daniel Jackson,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Mix Materials The beauty in the unfitted kitchen aesthetic is found in its collected look.—
Patricia Shannon,
Better Homes & Gardens,
6 May 2025
-
The venerable American clan at the center of the narrator’s reminiscences are wholly unfitted to the modern world and no longer endowed with the fortune that one of them brought home long ago on clipper ships.—
Daniel Akst,
WSJ,
2 Sep. 2022
Adjective
-
With the revision, unskilled workers in Noida will now earn approximately $147 per month, while semi-skilled and skilled workers will also see proportional increases.—
Mayu Saini,
Footwear News,
17 Apr. 2026
-
Women worked as domestics; men served as unskilled laborers, canal diggers and later as mill workers across the river.—
Paula Kane,
The Conversation,
13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Also, if 10 years pass since someone was deemed incapable to proceed in a felony case, the charges have to be dismissed.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
20 Apr. 2026
-
Without political capital, leadership is irrelevant, because such a person is incapable of being a leader.—
Jim Nowlan,
Chicago Tribune,
19 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unskillful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unskillful. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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