# incontinent

Pronunciation: say "in-KON-ti-nuhnt" US /ɪnˈkɑntɪnənt/, UK /ɪŋˈkɒntɪnənt/

## Adjective

1. Unable to hold in the body's natural discharges, most commonly urine or feces.
   - Simple: Unable to hold in urine or other waste from the body.
   - _Nursing staff check incontinent residents every two hours and change their bedding as needed._
   - _The surgery left him temporarily incontinent, which he found more humiliating than the pain._
2. Unable to hold something in or keep it contained.
   - Simple: Not able to keep something in or hold it back.
   - _Incontinent of gossip, he repeated every confidence within the hour._
   - _A man incontinent of his grief, he wept openly at every mention of his son._
3. Going on without restraint or without ever stopping.
   - Simple: Not held back, or going on without stopping.
   - _The press secretary faced an incontinent flood of questions after the announcement._
   - _Through the thin wall came the incontinent chatter of the radio, hour after hour._
4. Showing no moderation, self-control, or moral restraint in indulging one's appetites, above all sexual desire.
   - Simple: Not able to control your desires, especially sexual ones.
   - _The chronicler portrays the young king as idle, extravagant, and incontinent in his pleasures._
   - _Her diary records her disgust at a husband so incontinent that he kept a mistress in every town he visited._

## Adverb

5. At once and without any delay. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Right away, without waiting.

## Noun

6. A person who lacks sexual restraint and does not live chastely. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A person who does not control their sexual desires.

## Origin

From Middle English incontinent, from Old French incontinent, which goes back to Latin incontinens, formed from in- and continens.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/incontinent (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).