inadequacy

UK/ɪˈnædɪkwəsi/US/ɪˈnædɪkwəsi/

nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,711 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: inadequacies

Inadequacy is the state of not being good enough. A sense of inadequacy, the inadequacy of the response, feelings of inadequacy.

It has two quite different uses: of things it is a plain judgement, and of people it names a feeling rather than a fact. Feelings of inadequacy is the standard phrase in psychology and describes something almost everybody has.

Definitions of inadequacy

1nouninadequacyThe state of not being good enough.B2+
“The flood exposed the inadequacy of the town's drainage system.”

inadequacy is a state.

Where it comes from

In-, not, plus adequacy, from Latin adaequare, to make equal to.

From inadequate + cy or in + adequacy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

inadequacy in the wild

In psychology, an inferiority complex is a consistent feeling of inadequacy, often resulting in the belief that one is in some way deficient, or inferior, to others.
Inferiority complex
When this happens, the child acts from one of four "mistaken goals": undue attention, power, revenge or avoidance (inadequacy).
Rudolf Dreikurs
There were no deaths, but the fire highlighted the inadequacy of South Australia's fire-fighting capability.
Adelaide Hills bushfires
The lack of initiative to extract other minerals commercially is mainly attributed to the inadequacy of infrastructure and finances.
Mining industry of Lesotho
The tour became their first without leader Hiroki Nakadoi, whereas Hiroki had left the group due to feelings of inadequacy in April 2013.
Lead Upturn 2013: Leap

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

inadequate

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