inefficiency
in-ih-FISH-un-see
/ˌɪnɪˈfɪʃənsi/
State or quality of wasting time, money, energy, or resources in reaching an outcome.
In economics, means resources are allocated such that someone could be made better off without making anyone else worse off.
The story behind the word. Formed by adding negative prefix 'in-' to efficiency (from Latin 'efficientia', meaning power to accomplish). Late 19th-century industrial engineers popularized it to describe mechanical power lost to friction.
Word relationships
- wastefulness: Wastefulness is general carelessness with material, while inefficiency specifically measures failure to optimize input-to-output ratios.
- efficiency: Efficiency is achieving maximum output with minimum wasted input.
Commonly confused with
- deadweight loss: Inefficiency is the qualitative state of waste; deadweight loss is the quantitative dollar value of that waste.
Word family
- inefficient (adjective): Wasting resources or not producing optimum results.
- inefficiently (adverb): In a wasteful or sub-optimal manner.
Collocations
- market inefficiency
- economic inefficiency
- reduce inefficiency
Example sentences
- "Trade barriers introduce inefficiency into the global supply chain by boosting domestic production costs." Market mechanics analysis
- "The audit exposed severe administrative inefficiency across regional branch offices." Corporate restructuring
Memory hook
IN- (not) EFFICIENT = Wasteful system. Wasted effort and capital.
When not to use
Do not use when describing deliberate safety redundancies or necessary quality controls.
Fun facts
- Pareto efficiency is named after Vilfredo Pareto; any state that falls short of Pareto optimality is termed economic inefficiency.
Related words
Explore more words
pareto-optimal, efficiency, efficient, ineffectual, productivity, fritter
Also appears in
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