inefficiency
/ˌɪnɪˈfɪʃnsi/ (bre, ipa) · /ˌɪnɪˈfɪʃnsi/ (ame, ipa) · /ˌi-nə-ˈfi-shən(t)-sē/ (ame, mw)
inefficiency — noun
- inefficiencysingular
- inefficienciesplural
1. the situation where time, money, or energy is being used poorly because a person
the situation where time, money, or energy is being used poorly because a person, system, or process is badly organised or lacks the right skill.
Mert was frustrated by the inefficiency of the hospital's paper filing system.
inefficiency of + [system noun]
The factory closed last year because of years of poor management and inefficiency.
Ishaan wrote a report on the inefficiency in the city's bus network.
There is a lot of inefficiency in the way the team handles customer emails.
Reuben blamed the project delay on the inefficiency of the old software.
- waste
broader; covers any loss of resources, not just poor organisation
- incompetence
stronger and harsher; blames a person's ability rather than the system
- disorganisation
focuses on lack of structure; inefficiency adds the idea of wasted resources
- efficiency
the direct opposite: good use of time, money, and energy
- productivity
broader positive term; high output per unit of input
文法句型
inefficiency in [doing something]
inefficiency of [a system]
用法筆記
Most often uncountable in this sense. Subject is typically a system, process, organisation, or working method — not a single person's behaviour in isolation.
常見錯誤
2. a specific practice, step, or feature inside a larger system that wastes time, m
a specific practice, step, or feature inside a larger system that wastes time, money, or energy and could be removed or fixed.
The new manager found several inefficiencies in the warehouse delivery process.
find + inefficiencies in + [process]
Anong's job was to remove inefficiencies from the company's daily workflow.
remove inefficiencies from + [system]
Noa identified three big inefficiencies that were costing the bakery money every week.
The audit listed many small inefficiencies in the school's purchasing rules.
Engineers eliminated the inefficiencies in the old engine to save fuel.
- weakness
general; not always about wasted resources
- bottleneck
specifically a step that slows the whole process down
- redundancy
a duplicate or unnecessary step that wastes effort
- improvement
a change that removes an inefficiency
文法句型
inefficiencies in [a system]
remove / eliminate / identify inefficiencies
用法筆記
Countable and almost always plural. Distinguish from sense 1: sense 2 names individual fixable items (you can count them and list them), while sense 1 names the overall poor state.