inefficient

Inefficient is a way of saying that something (or someone) works in a way that wastes effort or energy—in other words, that it’s not efficient. This isn’t always easy to boil down to one word.

A process that’s considered inefficient could be described as wasteful, meaning that it could get the same (or an even better) result with less effort or resources.

Processes that are efficient are sometimes described as economical—meaning they maximize results with minimum resources or effort. In this way, something that’s inefficient could be described as uneconomical.

You could indicate that a process is inefficient by saying that it involves too many steps. You could imply that a machine is inefficient by saying that it doesn’t run as smoothly as it should. Old appliances are called inefficient when they use way more energy to perform the same functions as more efficient ones.

You could imply that a person is inefficient in the way they’re completing a task or doing an activity by saying that they’re doing unnecessary work or exerting more effort than they need to.

Sometimes, instead of saying that something is inefficient, you could say that it suffers from inefficiency.