incompétentes

Incompétentes is the plural of the French adjective incompétent, meaning not competent or lacking the necessary ability to perform a task. In common usage it refers to individuals who fail to meet required standards of knowledge, skill, or judgment in a particular role. The term is often pejorative and may be used in critical or sweeping statements, but in professional contexts it is usually replaced by more precise assessments of competence or performance.

In organizational, administrative, or political discourse, incompétents can describe personnel, teams, or institutions judged to be unable to fulfill duties effectively. Assessments may consider education, training, experience, decision-making, reliability, and accountability. In law or medicine, related terms such as incapacité or incompetence may have specific, formal meanings, for example when a person lacks legal capacity or medical capability to perform actions or make decisions.

Etymology: incompétent derives from the prefix in- plus competent; the term exists in French and is understood in other Romance languages with similar forms. The noun form is incompetence. The phrase incompétentes is typically used in the plural to refer to a group rather than a single person, though the plurality can also reflect a generic category.

Because of its negative connotations, the term is often replaced by neutral descriptors such as "lacking the required skills," "insufficient qualifications," or "underperforming" in formal writing.