Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Properly or sufficiently qualified; capable.
- adjective Adequate for the purpose.
- adjective Law Legally qualified or fit to perform an act.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One of the competentes (which see).
- Answering all requirements; suitable; fit; sufficient or adequate for the purpose: as, competent supplies of food and clothing; an army competent to the defense of the kingdom.
- Having ability or capacity; properly qualified: as, a competent bookkeeper.
- In law, having legal capacity or qualification: as, a competent judge or court; a competent witness.
- Rightfully or lawfully belonging; pertaining by right; permissible: followed by to.
- Fitted, etc. See
qualified . - In physical geography, of a stream, capable of transporting fragments of a given size.
- In geology, having sufficient firmness and strength to transmit pressure to other strata or to lift an overlying burden, as a rock or stratum.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Answering to all requirements; adequate; sufficient; suitable; capable; legally qualified; fit.
- adjective Rare, except in legal usage. Rightfully or properly belonging; incident; -- followed by
to .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Having sufficient
skill ,knowledge ,ability , orqualifications . - adjective law Having
jurisdiction orauthority over a particularissue orquestion . - adjective
Adequate for thepurpose
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective properly or sufficiently qualified or capable or efficient
- adjective adequate for the purpose
- adjective legally qualified or sufficient
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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(which nobody denies actually to subsist,) and after stating, that, if juries are not reputed competent to try the whole matter, the benefit of trial by jury will be of none or imperfect effect, it enacts, not that the jury _shall_ have the _power_, but that they shall be _held and reputed in law and right competent_ to try the whole matter laid in the information.
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 07 (of 12) Edmund Burke 1763
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Devaud said that a Pakistani government anti-corruption agency had posted on its Web site what he described as competent English-language translations of the original orders he had issued against Bhutto, Zardari and Schlegelmilch in 2003.
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We have constant, what we call competent air patrol or CAP over New York and over Washington.
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This awful expression refers to a firm's or a person's fundamental strength-even though that's not what the word "competent" means.
Forbes.com: News Group Think For Entrepreneurs 2012
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As I have written above, what we know as competent physical science pertains to man's relationship to the subject-matters of the domain of the abiotic and the Biosphere; Classical artistic expressions pertain to the essential relationship of the creative faculties through which human relations as such are expressed in an ironical mode comparable to that of physical scientific practice.
LaRouche's Latest 2009
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The ability of your children to have a positive emotional reaction begins with a firm grounding in their feeling loved, secure, and competent, in other words, their self-esteem.
Dr. Jim Taylor: Freak Out or Geek Out?: Children's Emotional Reactions to Achievement Dr. Jim Taylor 2012
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The ability of your children to have a positive emotional reaction begins with a firm grounding in their feeling loved, secure, and competent, in other words, their self-esteem.
Dr. Jim Taylor: Freak Out or Geek Out?: Children's Emotional Reactions to Achievement Dr. Jim Taylor 2012
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They'll increase our ability to train competent Afghan security forces, and to partner with them so that more Afghans can get into the fight.
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The fact that brown could lie about his own intentions and his goals is totally down to in competent democratic message handling.
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The ability of your children to have a positive emotional reaction begins with a firm grounding in their feeling loved, secure, and competent, in other words, their self-esteem.
Dr. Jim Taylor: Freak Out or Geek Out?: Children's Emotional Reactions to Achievement Dr. Jim Taylor 2012
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