How to Use inefficacy in a Sentence

inefficacy

noun
  • Phil Jackson took over the team the next year, ushering in a new period of inefficacy for the team.
    — New York Times, 20 Oct. 2021
  • There was hope Rodgers could change that long history of inefficacy when was acquired in an April trade in exchange for draft picks.
    — Emmanuel Morgan, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2023
  • The impunity of the powerful was measured by the inefficacy of the outraged.
    — Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2026
  • Sunak’s election has raised questions about the inefficacy of trickle down diversity.
    — Sanya Mansoor, Time, 24 Oct. 2022
  • Brands that rely solely on AI risk not just irrelevance, but inefficacy.
    — Sean Dallaskidd, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
  • The potential side effects or inefficacy of the drug are immaterial compared to that outcome.
    — Wired Staff, Wired, 5 Apr. 2020
  • As feelings of cynicism, inefficacy and exhaustion increase, naturally, joy starts to dwindle across most if not all areas of life.
    — Rachel Montañez, Forbes, 24 June 2021
  • There are politicians in all camps who want to keep a lid on the conflict, generally not in service of any strategy for resolution but out of a sense of inefficacy and inertia.
    — Michael Barnett, Foreign Affairs, 14 Apr. 2023
  • All this inefficacy belies a deeper problem with our education system.
    — Daniel Buck, National Review, 30 Oct. 2021
  • One of its most surprising features has been the inefficacy of what was only months ago considered a highly capable Russian military.
    — Eric Tegler, Forbes, 27 May 2022
  • Nevertheless, by 2,500 years ago the animals had made their way to Greece, proving the inefficacy of export bans.
    — Andrew C. Kitchener, Scientific American, 1 Sep. 2015
  • Kelly will inherit a West Wing that has set a new standard for chaos, backstabbing, factionalism, and inefficacy.
    — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 28 July 2017
  • The problem was the seeming inevitability of the juggernaut, the constancy of its forward motion, and the inefficacy of mere individuals in the face of such odds.
    — Christopher Ketcham, Harper's Magazine, 1 Nov. 2023
  • The problem was the seeming inevitability of the juggernaut, the constancy of its forward motion, and the inefficacy of mere individuals in the face of such odds.
    — Christopher Ketcham, Harper's Magazine, 16 Oct. 2023
  • This set of emotions—exhaustion, feelings of inefficacy and cynicism—feed off one another, producing a vicious cycle of deepening burnout.
    — Michael P. Leiter, Scientific American, 1 Jan. 2015
  • As Luther’s claims about the inefficacy of indulgences spread, with help from the new Gutenberg printing press, so did the idea of the solas, which formed the basis of the Reformation.
    — Jamie Quatro, The New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2019
  • Bosses who fail to express their appreciation also contribute to workers’ feelings of inefficacy.
    — Michael P. Leiter, Scientific American, 1 Jan. 2015
  • When on day five of his mayoralty Zohran Mamdani acknowledged the inefficacy of homeless sweeps and avowed to end them, street homeless adults, advocates, and attorneys rejoiced.
    — Deborah Berkman, New York Daily News, 24 Feb. 2026
  • The meaninglessness associated with inefficacy, the third symptom of burnout, is trickier to tackle.
    — Dianna Mazzone, Allure, 19 Aug. 2022
  • The giraffe, said Mivart, was a perfect example of natural selection’s inefficacy.
    — Brian Switek, WIRED, 7 Jan. 2011
  • Several candidates for state office seized the findings as an opportunity to call for a total disbanding and replacement of the ethics commission, which has for years been dogged by accusations of inefficacy and bias.
    — Vivian Wang, New York Times, 11 June 2018
  • The growing inefficacy of standard pharmaceutical treatments has pushed researchers to consider other therapies.
    — Leslie Nemo, Discover Magazine, 6 Nov. 2019
  • The work is less a critique of AA’s methods than a wry commentary on art and art history’s inefficacy in remedying profound societal ills, especially those affecting Indigenous communities.
    — Michaëla De Lacaze Mohrmann, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2025
  • Frustrated by conventional treatments’ inefficacy, Christina discovered Gronich’s clinic and benefited from her comprehensive, whole-body approach to skincare.
    — WWD, 2 July 2024
  • Due to corruption and bureaucratic inefficacy, nations in the Northern Triangle collect less in tax revenues than most other Latin American countries (relative to the size of each nation’s gross domestic product).
    — Eric Levitz, Daily Intelligencer, 21 June 2018
  • The most common challenges for organizations today include high carbon emissions, finite fossil-fuel availability, severe weather issues causing service disruptions, water scarcity, inefficacy and waste management.
    — Ashish Saxena, Forbes, 8 Oct. 2021
  • The inefficacy of Obama’s administration implementing protection for undocumented immigrants should also be highlighted.
    — Mario Nicolais, The Denver Post, 14 Jan. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'inefficacy.' 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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