inconvenience definition

English

Etymology

From Middle English inconvenience, from Old French inconvenience (“misfortune, calamity, impropriety”) (compare French inconvenance (“impropriety”) and inconvénient (“inconvenience”)), from Late Latin inconvenientia (“inconsistency, incongruity”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnkənˈviːnɪəns/, /ɪŋk-/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnkənˈvinjəns/, /ɪŋk-/
• Hyphenation: in‧con‧ve‧nience

Noun

inconvenience (countable and uncountable, plural inconveniences)

1. The quality of being inconvenient.
   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     They plead against the inconvenience, not the unlawfulness, […] of ceremonies in burial.

2. Something that is not convenient, something that bothers.
   • 1664, John Tillotson, “Sermon I. The Wisdom of Being Religious. Job XXVIII. 28.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: […], 8th edition, London: […] T. Goodwin, B[enjamin] Tooke, and J. Pemberton, […]; J. Round […], and J[acob] Tonson] […], published 1720, →OCLC:

     [Man] is liable to a great many inconveniences.

   • 1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Part, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 101:

     The inconveniences that must be endured before the modernisation plan can come into action may be seen at Coventry, where since August the station has been in the throes of rebuilding.

   • 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist‎^[1], volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):

     An artificial kidney […] can cause bleeding, clotting and infection—not to mention inconvenience for patients, who typically need to be hooked up to one three times a week for hours at a time.

Synonyms

• (something inconvenient): annoyance, nuisance, trouble

Translations

Verb

inconvenience (third-person singular simple present inconveniences, present participle inconveniencing, simple past and past participle inconvenienced)

1. to bother; to discomfort

Synonyms

• (obsolete) discommodate
• discommode
• incommode

Translations

Further reading

• “inconvenience”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “inconvenience”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.