different between incompetence vs impotence

English

Etymology

From French incompétence.

Noun

incompetence (usually uncountable, plural incompetences)

1. Inability to perform; lack of competence; ineptitude.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:

     ... at the head of a crew, too, chiefly made up of mongrel renegades, and castaways, and cannibals--morally enfeebled also, by the incompetence of mere unaided virtue or right-mindedness in Starbuck

   • 1949, George Orwell, 1984:

     Winston did not know why Withers had been disgraced. Perhaps it was for corruption or incompetence. Perhaps Big Brother was merely getting rid of a too-popular subordinate.

   • 1974, Ursula Leguin, The Dispossessed:

     The factory where she worked was a poisonous mass of incompetence, favoritism, and sabotage.

Related terms

• incompetent
• competency
• incompetency

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• impotency

Etymology

From Middle French impotence, from Latin impotentia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??mp?t?ns/

Noun

impotence (usually uncountable, plural impotences)

1. Powerlessness; incapacity.
2. Inability to copulate or beget children; sterility, erectile dysfunction, etc.

Related terms

• impotent

Translations

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [??mpot?nt?s?]
• Rhymes: -?nts?

Noun

impotence f

1. impotence (inability to copulate or beget children)

Related terms

• See potence

Further reading

• impotence in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• impotence in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

French

Noun

impotence f (plural impotences)

1. powerlessness