Inept means hopelessly clumsy or unskilled. An inept attempt, politically inept, utterly inept.
It is a hard criticism because it says the failure was a lack of basic competence rather than bad luck. Socially inept describes somebody who repeatedly gets the social move wrong. Note ineptitude; and that inept is literally not apt, from the same Latin aptus — so inept and inapt are the same word, though inapt now means unsuitable rather than incompetent.
1adjectiveineptHopelessly clumsy or unskilled.
“The inept waiter dropped our plates and then brought us the wrong bill.”
synonyms: incompetent, bungling
inept is a quality of incompetence.
Latin ineptus is in- plus aptus, fitting. Apt, adapt and attitude come from the same fitting, so inept means unfitted.
Latin
ineptus
Middle French
inepte
English, today
inept
Borrowed from Middle French inepte, from Latin ineptus, from in- + aptus (whence English apt).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA