Standard Lemma guide

unskillful

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Not skillful.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: unskilled

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: incompetent, noncompetent, uncompetent

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

poorly done

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a botchy piece of work
  • it was an unskillful attempt

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: botchy, butcherly

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English skillful English unskillful From un- + skillful.

Across languages

Translations

21 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: несръчен (nesrǎčen) — not skilful
  • Bulgarian: непохватен (nepohvaten) — not skilful
  • Chinese Mandarin: 嫩 (nèn) — not skilful
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不熟練 /不熟练 (bù shúliàn) — not skilful
  • Esperanto: mallerta — not skilful
  • Japanese: 下手な (heta na) — not skilful
  • Latin: incallidus — not skilful
  • Manchu: ᡳᠴᡝ (ice) — not skilful
  • Māori: ninipa — not skilful
  • Māori: hakorea — not skilful
  • Polish: nieumiejętny — not skilful
  • Polish: niewprawny — not skilful
  • Polish: niezręczny — not skilful
  • Romanian: nepriceput — not skilful
  • Russian: неуме́лый (neumélyj) — not skilful
  • Russian: неиску́сный (neiskúsnyj) — not skilful
  • Scottish Gaelic: mì-theòma — not skilful
  • Spanish: desmañado — not skilful
  • Spanish: tegua — not skilful
  • Spanish: inhábil — not skilful
  • Ukrainian: невмі́лий (nevmílyj) — not skilful