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Mawson, C.O.S., ed. (1870–1938). Roget’s International Thesaurus. 1922.

Class V. Words Releasing to the Voluntary Powers
Division (I) Individual Volition
Section III. Voluntary Action
2. Complex Voluntary Action

699. Unskillfulness.

   NOUN:UNSKILLFULNESS or unskilfulness &c. adj.; want of skill [See Skill]; incompetence or incompetency; inability, infelicity, indexterity [rare], clumsiness, inaptitude &c. adj.; inexperience; disqualification, unproficiency; quackery.
  FOLLY, stupidity [See Imbecility. Folly]; indiscretion (rashness) [See Rashness]; thoughtlessness (inattention) [See Inattention], (neglect) [See Neglect]; sabotage [F.].
  MISMANAGEMENT, misconduct, mis- feasance; inexpedience, bad policy, impolicy; maladministration; misrule, misgovernment, misapplication, misdirection.
  ABSENCE OF RULE, rule of thumb; bungling &c. v.; failure [See Failure]; screw loose; too many cooks.
  BLUNDER (mistake) [See Error]; étourderie [F.], gaucherie [F.], act of folly, balourdise [F.], bungle, botch, botchery; bad job, sad work.
  sprat sent out to catch a whale, butterfly broken on a wheel, tempest in a teacup, storm in a teacup, much ado about nothing, wild-goose chase.
  BUNGLER [See Bungler]; fool [See Fool]; hen with its head cut off [colloq.].
   VERB:BE UNSKILLFUL or unskilful, &c. adj.; not see an inch beyond one’s nose; blunder, bungle, muff [esp., baseball], boggle, fumble, botch, mar, spoil, bitch [obs.], flounder, stumble, trip; hobble [See Slowness]; put one’s foot in it [colloq.]; make a -mess, – hash, – sad work- of [all colloq.]; overshoot the mark.
  play tricks with, play Puck; mismanage, misconduct, misdirect, misapply, missend.
  ACT FOOLISHLY; stultify -, make a fool of -, commit- oneself; play the fool; put oneself out of court; lose one’s -head, – senses, – cunning; begin at the wrong end; do things by halves (not complete) [See Noncompletion]; make two bites of a cherry; play at cross-purposes; strain at a gnat and swallow a camel (caprice) [See Caprice]; put the cart before the horse; lock the stable door when the horse is stolen (too late) [See Intempestivity].
  not know what one is about, not know one’s own interest, not know on which side one’s bread is buttered; stand 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, burn one’s fingers; knock -, run- one’s head against a stone wall; bring the house about one’s ears; have too many -eggs in one basket (imprudent) [See Rashness], – irons in the fire.
  cut blocks with a razor; hold a farthing candle to the sun (useless) [See Inutility]; fight with -, grasp at- a shadow; catch at straws, lean on a broken reed, reckon without one’s host, pursue a wild-goose chase; go on a fool’s errand, go on a sleeveless errand [obs.]; go further and fare worse; fail [See Failure].
  MISTAKE [See Error]; take the shadow for the substance (credulity) [See Credulity]; bark up the wrong tree; be in the wrong box, aim at a pigeon and kill a crow; take -, get- -the wrong pig by the tail, – the wrong sow by the ear, – the dirty end of the stick [all colloq.]; put the saddle on the wrong horse, put a square thing into a round hole, put new wine into old bottles; lose one’s way, miss one’s way; fall into a trap, catch a Tartar.
   ADJECTIVE:UNSKILLFUL or unskilful [See Skill]; unskilled, inexpert; bungling &c. v.; awkward, clumsy, unhandy, lubberly, gauche [F.], maladroit; left-handed, heavy-handed; slovenly, slatternly; gawky.
  adrift, at fault.
  INAPT, unapt; inhabile [obs.]; untractable, unteachable; giddy (inattentive) [See Inattention]; inconsiderate (neglectful) [See Neglect]; stupid [See Imbecility. Folly]; inactive [See Inactivity]; incompetent; unqualified, disqualified, ill-qualified; unfit; quackish; raw, green, inexperienced, rusty, out of practice.
  UNACCUSTOMED, unused, untrained [See Teaching], uninitiated, unconversant (ignorant) [See Ignorance]; unbusinesslike, unpractical, shiftless; unstatesmanlike.
  ILL-ADVISED, unadvised, misadvised; ill-devised, ill-imagined, ill-judged, ill-contrived, ill-conducted; unguided, misguided; misconducted, foolish, wild; infelicitous; penny wise and pound foolish (inconsistent) [See Caprice].
   QUOTATIONS:
  1. One’s fingers being all thumbs.
  2. The right hand forgets its cunning.
  3. Il se noyerait dans une goutte d’eau.
  4. Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim.
  5. Out of the frying pan into the fire.
  6. Non omnia possumus omnes.—Vergil