It has more meanings than you might think. In addition to an archaic sense and a legal sense, Webster’s Third gives four definitions for inept. First, there is inept as in “inept comparison” or “inept metaphor.” This is defined as “likely to fail in its purpose” or “not apt for the occasion.” The dictionary offers a nice example from Thomas Wolfe’s novel Of Time and the River:

The square is one of those anomalous, shabby-ornate, inept, and pitifully pretentious places that one finds in little towns like these.

Then there is inept meaning “preposterous” or “lacking sense or reason.” As an example of this Webster’s Third gives a quotation from the novelist James T. Farrell from an essay of his about literature and ideology:

It is inept, absurd, downright silly, to argue that in a modern world torn by the greatest convulsions of the modern period, literature can hide away in a hothouse.

Finally, there are two closely related meanings—“lacking in skill or aptitude for a particular role or task,” as in “I was inept at sports,” and then more loosely “generally incompetent; inadequate, bungling,” as in “inept leadership.” For the first of these, there is a quotation from the British author Rumer Godden:

She is often a little inept, clumsy about the practical things of life.

And for the second sense, this from a history book by Allan Nevins and Henry Steele Commager:

They found many colonials blundering, just as the British found many colonials incompetent; they saw that the brave but inept Braddock would have done well to take young George Washington’s advice.

And if you’re wondering, Would it be any better to be called awkward, clumsy, maladroit, gauche, ungainly, lumbering, or gawky?, Webster’s Third has some advice. It says that while all of these words denote a lack of grace, skill, or fitness, inept is the worst, suggesting total failure as well as a sense of futility or absurdity. Ouch!

So, it remains to be seen who or what is being referred to as inept, but it’s a good bet that he, she, or it wishes it would stop.