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unskillfulness

Roget category 699

5. Words relating to the voluntary powers
5.3. Voluntary action
›› 5.3.2. Complex voluntary action

#699. Unskillfulness

noun

unskillfulness etc. adj. — want of skill etc. 698incompetence, incompentencyinability, infelicity, indexterity, inexperiencedisqualification, unproficiencyquackery.
folly, stupidity etc. 499indiscretion etc. (rashness) 863thoughtlessness etc. (inattention) 458 (neglect) 460sabotage.
mismanagement, misconductimpolicymaladministrationmisrule, misgovernment, misapplication, misdirection, misfeasancepetticoat government.
absence of rule, rule of thumbbungling etc. v. — failure etc. 732screw loose: too many cooks.
blunder etc. (mistake) 495etourderie gaucherie [Fr.], act of folly, balourdisebotch, botcherybad job, sad work.
sprat sent out to catch a whale, much ado about nothing, wild-goose chase.
bungler etc. 701fool etc. 501.

verb

be unskillful etc. adj. — not see an inch beyond one's noseblunder, bungle, boggle, fumble, botch, bitch, flounder, stumble, triphobble etc. 275put one's foot in itmake a mess of, make hash of, make sad work ofovershoot the mark.
play tricks with, play Puck, mismanage, misconduct, misdirect, misapply, missend.
stultify oneself, make a fool of oneself, commit oneselfact foolishlyplay the foolput oneself out of courtlose control, lose control of oneself, lose one's head, lose one's cunning.
begin at the wrong enddo things by halves etc. (not complete) 730make two bites of a cherryplay at cross purposesstrain at a gnat and swallow a camel etc. (caprice) 608put the cart before the horselock the stable door when the horse is stolen etc. (too late) 135.
not know what one is about, not know one's own interest, not know on which side one's bread is butteredstand in one's own light, quarrel with one's bread and butter, throw a stone in one's own garden, kill the goose which lays the golden eggs, pay dear for one's whistle, cut one's own throat, bum one's fingersknock one's head against a stone wall, beat one's head against a stone wallfall into a trap, catch a Tartar, bring the house about one's earshave too many eggs in one basket (imprudent) 863, have too many irons in the fire.
mistake etc. 495take the shadow for the substance etc. (credulity) 486bark up the wrong treebe in the wrong box, aim at a pigeon and kill a crowtake the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong sow by the ear, get the dirty end of the stickput the saddle on the wrong horse, put a square peg into a round hole, put new wine into old bottles.
cut blocks with a razorhold a farthing candle to the sun etc. (useless) 645fight with a shadow, grasp at a shadowcatch at straws, lean on a broken reed, reckon without one's host, pursue a wild goose chasego on a fool's goose chase, sleeveless errandgo further and fare worselose one's way, miss one's wayfail etc. 732.

adjective

unskillful etc. 698inexpertbungling etc. v. — awkward, clumsy, unhandy, lubberly, gauche, maladroitleft-handed, heavy-handedslovenly, slatternlygawky.
adrift, at fault.
inapt, unaptinhabile [Fr.]untractable, unteachablegiddy etc. (inattentive) 458inconsiderate etc. (neglectful) 460stupid etc. 499inactive etc. 683incompetentunqualified, disqualified, ill-qualifiedunfitquackishraw, green, inexperienced, rusty, out of practice.
unaccustomed, unused, untrained etc. 537, uninitiated, unconversant etc. (ignorant) 491shiftlessunstatesmanlike.
unadvisedill-advised, misadvisedill-devised, ill-imagined, ill-judged, ill-contrived, ill-conductedunguided, misguidedmisconducted, foolish, wildinfelicitouspenny wise and pound foolish etc. (inconsistent) 608.

phrase

one's fingers being all thumbsthe right hand forgets its cunningil se noyerait dans une goutte d'eau [Fr.]incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim [Lat.]out of the frying pan into the firenon omnia possumus omnes [Lat.] [Vergil].

The content on this page comes straight from Project Gutenberg Etext of Roget's Thesaurus No. Two, which consists of the acclaimed work by Peter Mark Roget augmented with more recent material. Some changes were made to the formatting for improved readability.

Bold numbers signify related Roget categories. A dagger symbol (†) indicates archaic words and expressions no longer in common use.

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