Definition of "inadequate"

I had not yet seen Mrs. Kennedy. I wondered with what inadequate words I could try to console her.

1971, Lyndon Johnson, “The Beginning”, in The Vantage Point‎, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, page 12

In a convulsion that has caught many in Brazil and beyond by surprise, waves of protesters denounced their leaders for dedicating so many resources to cultivating Brazil’s global image by building stadiums for international events, when basic services like education and health care remain woefully inadequate.

2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 June 2013

By the 21st century, the clearly inadequate facilities needed to be replaced, so the area was rebuilt and modernised between 2009-13 as part of regeneration efforts focused upon the wider area.

2022 January 12, Paul Bigland, “Fab Four: the nation's finest stations: Wakefield Kirkgate”, in RAIL, number 948, page 28

“Russia is a terrorist country whose leader is an inadequate person”. Putin's failings are evident to the “entire world”, he said.

2023 June 29, Metro, London, page 13, column 5

Thus, at some critical level of unemployment, “the unemployed” becomes a negative reference group of inadequates, the hardcore unemployed […]

2012, Norman T. Feather, The Psychological Impact of Unemployment