- not complete or finished
- not completely developed; imperfect
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
in•com•ple•tion
(in′kəm plē′shən),USA pronunciation n.
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026- the state of being incomplete;
incompleteness. - Sport[Football.]an incomplete forward pass.
- in-3 + completion 1795–1805
in•com•plete /ˌɪnkəmˈplit/USA pronunciation
adj.
in•com•plete•ness, n. [uncountable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- lacking some part;
not complete.
in•com•plete•ness, n. [uncountable]
in•com•plete
(in′kəm plēt′),USA pronunciation adj.
n.
in′com•plete′ly, adv.
in′com•plete′ness, n.
- not complete;
lacking some part. - Sport[Football.](of a forward pass) not completed;
not caught by a receiver. - Civil Engineering[Engin.]noting a truss the panel points of which are not entirely connected so as to form a system of triangles. Cf. complete (def. 8), redundant (def. 5c).
- Philosophy[Logic, Philos.]
- (of an expression or symbol) meaningful only in a specific context.
- (of a set of axioms) such that there is at least one true proposition (able to be formulated in terms of the basic ideas of a given system) that is not deducible from the set. Cf. complete (def. 7).
n.
- Educationa temporary grade indicating that a student has not fulfilled one or more of the essential requirements for a course:If I don't hand in my term paper for last semester's English course, the professor is going to change my incomplete to an F.
- Late Latin incomplētus. See in-3, complete
- Middle English 1350–1400
in′com•plete′ness, n.
- 1. unfinished, partial, fragmentary.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
incomplete /ˌɪnkəmˈpliːt/ adj
'incompletion' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):