How to Use incontinent in a Sentence

incontinent

adjective
  • Men whose hernias had been repaired with mesh were left incontinent and forced to wear adult diapers.
    — Jeanne Lenzer, Discover Magazine, 11 Feb. 2011
  • Already incontinent, now Benton couldn’t walk or lift himself out of a chair or bed.
    — Jessica Ravitz, ajc, 25 Apr. 2020
  • Because this is an adult show, there are jokes about the burglars being incontinent and using walkers.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 17 Dec. 2024
  • All were in bed or wheelchairs, diagnosed with memory loss or dementia and were incontinent.
    — Flkeysnews.com, miamiherald, 5 June 2017
  • Listen at one point or another, many of us have dated a gross guy who is verbally incontinent and causes a wildfire fight amongst lady friends.
    — Roxanne Adamiyatt, Town & Country, 26 Sep. 2020
  • Despite fetal surgery, many children with spina bifida are incontinent.
    — Denise Grady, New York Times, 24 June 2019
  • By the time he was discharged more than three months later, he was partially paralyzed in the legs and permanently incontinent.
    — Emily Langer, Washington Post, 19 May 2017
  • Firehouse treated her 12-year-old German shepherd, who is no longer incontinent and has less arthritis pain.
    — Nicole Villalpando, Austin American Statesman, 15 Feb. 2026
  • It was parked under a giant tree that apparently housed a family of incontinent birds, because my windshield was covered in poop.
    — Charlotte Andersen, Redbook, 23 May 2017
  • In rapidly aging Japan, more diapers are used by older, incontinent people than by babies.
    — New York Times, 15 Nov. 2021
  • The government also says its banks will be run more efficiently, to prevent further incontinent lending.
    — The Economist, 28 Oct. 2017
  • At Hacienda, most of the residents are incontinent and wear diapers.
    — Stephanie Innes, azcentral, 13 Feb. 2020
  • In a blunter mode, the romance novelist Jilly Cooper once named an incontinent goat for a reviewer who had savaged her work.
    — Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2023
  • Waterproofing For pad alarms, waterproofing is essential for incontinent patients or those who tend to spill their food and drinks.
    — Bestreviews, Mercury News, 22 Jan. 2026
  • Recently, her dog was given a diagnosis of an incurable spinal tumor and then became incontinent.
    — Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2022
  • His injured spine, largely untreated since a wall collapsed on him during an Israeli air raid nine months ago, was still in agony, leaving him incontinent and unable to stand.
    — Steve Hendrix, Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2026
  • This includes an incontinent diversion in which urine passes into an external bag or a continent diversion in which urine passes through a catheter without a bag.
    — Jamin Brahmbhatt, Verywell Health, 12 Feb. 2025
  • After starting this treatment, the sanctuary determined that the kitten was incontinent.
    — Kelli Bender, Peoplemag, 6 Apr. 2023
  • For example, Cola is incontinent, though that is an issue easily managed with diapers and a harness.
    — Jack Beresford, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Sep. 2025
  • Nonskid rugs are great in homes with golden-age dogs that may become incontinent because of kidney disease or as a side effect of heart medication, to name just a couple of potential causes.
    — Kim Campbell Thornton Andrews McMeel, Star Tribune, 28 Aug. 2020
  • By her early 30s, the after-effects of the radiation had damaged her colon to the point where Burgess-Stocks became incontinent.
    — Colleen Murphy, Health.com, 29 Nov. 2021
  • In another recent case, a car dropped off at First Step Communities an elderly woman who was incontinent and had soiled her clothing.
    — Cynthia Hubert and Ryan Lillis, sacbee, 21 Feb. 2018
  • Over a period of days, this patient, who had heart disease, diabetes and moderate cognitive impairment, stopped walking and became incontinent and profoundly lethargic.
    — Judith Graham, CNN, 23 Apr. 2020
  • During the same inspection, the federal inspector cited the nursing home for failing to prevent the spread of infections after a nurse forgot to change her gloves and wash her hands after cleaning an incontinent resident.
    — Ciara McCarthy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 Aug. 2025
  • Karreon was autistic, developmentally disabled, incontinent, non-verbal and partially blind, according to the affidavit.
    — oregonlive, 14 Apr. 2021
  • Meet Medha Godbole, 58, whose 60-year-old husband, Sanjay, is paraplegic, nonverbal and incontinent.
    — Ron Lieber, New York Times, 8 Dec. 2017
  • Mein Kampf is an incontinent bulk crammed with reflections, ruminations, biographical extracts and frenzied speculations.
    — Nicholas O’Shaughnessy, Slate Magazine, 14 Mar. 2017
  • Representative Rice believes that her constituents are emotionally incontinent children who can be manipulated with dishonest rhetoric and cheap emotional ploys.
    — Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, 13 Aug. 2017
  • Meanwhile, his house is in an almost cartoonish state of disrepair and falling down around him, while his attempts to upgrade his furniture leads him to buy a shabby armchair on Craigslist that was previously occupied by a comatose, and incontinent, old lady.
    — Damon Wise, Deadline, 20 Mar. 2026
  • In its 2001 film adaptation, Zellweger fell headfirst into life as a London girl and audiences around the globe fell in love with a verbally incontinent spinster who drinks like a fish, smokes like a chimney and dresses like her mother.
    — Lily Ford, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'incontinent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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