different between unable vs inefficient

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?e?b?l/
• Rhymes: -e?b?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English unable, unabel, unhable, unhabil, equivalent to un- +? able.

Adjective

unable (comparative unabler or more unable, superlative unablest or most unable)

1. Not able; lacking a certain ability.

   Are you unable to mind your own business or something?

Antonyms

• able

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English unablen, equivalent to un- +? able.

Verb

unable (third-person singular simple present unables, present participle unabling, simple past and past participle unabled)

1. (transitive, nonstandard) To render unable; disable

Anagrams

• Buelna, Nabeul, nebula, unbale

English

Etymology

in- +? efficient

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n.??f??.?nt/
• Rhymes: -???nt

Adjective

inefficient (comparative more inefficient, superlative most inefficient)

1. Not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired; inefficacious

   Celery is an inefficient food.

2. Incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action; habitually slack or unproductive; effecting little or nothing
   • 1987, Ronald Reagan, Presidential Radio Address January 17, 1987

     The Defense Department, for example, has greatly expanded competitive bidding and is this year submitting to Congress the first-ever 2-year defense budget to replace the old, inefficient, year-by-year process.

   Jessica was terribly inefficient at cleaning, so her brother usually had to clean the whole room.

Antonyms

• efficient

Translations

Noun

inefficient (plural inefficients)

1. A person who cannot or does not work efficiently.
   • 1889, New York (State). Dept. of Labor. Bureau of Statistics, Annual Report (part 2, page 127)

     Two men were put to work who could not set their looms; a third man was taken on who helped the inefficients to set the looms. The other weavers thought this was a breach of their union rules and 18 of them struck […]

   • 1903, Jack London, The People of the Abyss Chapter 17

     A general shaking up of the workers from top to bottom would result; and when equilibrium had been restored, the number of the inefficients at the bottom of the Abyss would have been increased by hundreds of thousands.