adjective

incontinent

in-KAHN-tih-nunt/ɪnˈkɑːntɪnənt/

Unable to restrain an urge or bodily release.

The incontinent woman leaks a little urine when she sneezes.

A fully clothed older woman sneezes into a tissue as a small urinary leak visibly wets her trousers, depicting stress urinary incontinence without nudity or ridicule.

Etymology

inLatinnot

+conLatintogether

+tinentLatinto hold

Holding together also carried the sense of holding back or restraining. With the negative prefix, the word described lacking self-restraint before developing its medical sense of being unable to retain bodily discharges.

In context

MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics23:20

worries for the future and she gave me a litany she said she feared facing more pain suffering the humiliation of losing even more of her bodily control she'd become incontinent

Atul Gawande "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End"

More examples

After surgery, he is temporarily incontinent and needs protective underwear.
Some patients are incontinent of both urine and stool.
His incontinent spending leaves him struggling to pay rent.

Forms

incontinent

incontinence noun — Inability to control bodily releases or impulses.

Similar words

unrestrained: Describes unchecked behavior, not specifically loss of bodily control.
uncontrolled: Describes an unchecked action or release, rather than someone's inability.