competence

[kom-pi-tuh ns] /ˈkɒm pɪ təns/

noun

the quality of being competent; adequacy; possession of required skill, knowledge, qualification, or capacity:

He hired her because of her competence as an accountant.

sufficiency; a sufficient quantity.

an income sufficient to furnish the necessities and modest comforts of life.

Law. (of a witness, a party to a contract, etc.) legal capacity or qualification based on the meeting of certain minimum requirements of age, soundness of mind, citizenship, or the like.

Embryology. the sum total of possible developmental responses of any group of blastemic cells under varied external conditions.

Linguistics. the implicit, internalized knowledge of a language that a speaker possesses and that enables the speaker to produce and understand the language.

Compare performance (def 8).

Immunology, immunocompetence.

Geology. the ability of a fluid medium, as a stream or the wind, to move and carry particulate matter, measured by the size or weight of the largest particle that can be transported.

Origin

1585-95; compet(ent) + -ence

Examples from the web for competence

Online courses require a tremendous amount of self-discipline and no small amount of academic ability and technical competence.
There are plenty of things that matter more than competence, such as the ability to project drive and self-confidence.
competence was measured in the length and complexity of a recipe, not in one's ability to crank out five easy suppers.
Strength and competence blends with beauty to qualify the included heroines.
With quiet competence the conversation turned to the immediate task at hand.
We really do judge a book by its cover-and, it seems, the competence of politicians by their faces.
He did not talk, he radiated no friendliness, only competence and an absence of fear.
However, the root cause of this is more often the technical competence of the painter than an inherent failure of the materials.
But some scholars say that linguistic competence does not equal cultural competence-and that the latter is what is sorely needed.
Then, the university proclaims that the students have some sort of cultural competence.

British Dictionary definitions for competence

competence

/ˈkɒmpɪtəns/

noun

the condition of being capable; ability

a sufficient income to live on

the state of being legally competent or qualified

(embryol) the ability of embryonic tissues to react to external conditions in a way that influences subsequent development

(linguistics) (in transformational grammar) the form of the human language faculty, independent of its psychological embodiment in actual human beings Compare performance (sense 7), langue, parole (sense 5)

Word Origin and History for competence

1590s, "rivalry" (based on compete); c.1600 "adequate supply;" 1630s, "sufficiency of means for living at ease," from French compétence, from Latin competentia "meeting together, agreement, symmetry," from competens, present participle of competere, especially in its earlier sense of "fall together, come together, be convenient or fitting" (see compete). Meaning "sufficiency to deal with what is at hand" is from 1790.

competence in Medicine

competence com·pe·tence (kŏm'pĭ-təns)
n.

The quality of being competent or capable of performing an allotted function.
The quality or condition of being legally qualified to perform an act.
The mental ability to distinguish right from wrong and to manage one's own affairs.
The ability of a cell, especially a bacterial cell, to be genetically transformable.
The ability to respond immunologically to viruses or other antigenic agents.
Integrity, especially the normal tight closure of a cardiac valve.

competence in Science

competence

(kŏm'pĭ-təns)

The ability of bacteria to be undergo genetic transformation.
The ability to respond immunologically to an antigen, as in an immune cell responding to a virus.
The ability to function normally because of structural integrity, as in a heart valve.