competence
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkɒm.pə.təns/
ipa: /ˈkɑm.pə.təns/
ipa: /ˈkɒm.pə.təns/
ipa: /ˈkɑm.pə.təns/
ipa: /ˈkɔm.pə.təns/
ipa: /ˈkɒm.pə.təns/
Forms: form: competences
Etymology: Borrowed from Middle French compétence, from Late Latin competentia. Doublet of competency.
Senses: examples: text: Teachers are now required to teach intercultural communicative competence.
ref: 2005, Lies Sercu, Ewa Bandura, Foreign Language Teachers and Intercultural Competence: An International Investigation:
glosses: The quality or state of being competent, i.e. able or suitable for a general role.
glosses: The quality or state of being able or suitable for a particular task; the quality or state of being competent for a particular task or skill.
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: The system of linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers of a language, as opposed to its actual use in concrete situations (performance), cf. linguistic competence.
examples: text: Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, / Lie in three words — health, peace, and competence.
ref: 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:
text: “money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to give it. Beyond a competence, it can afford no real satisfaction, as far as mere self is concerned.”
ref: 1811, Jane Austen, chapter 17, in Sense and Sensibility:
text: A few years ago there lived in a city on the Mississippi a happy family, consisting of a husband, wife, and two children. They were in comfortable circumstances—he able to earn a competence—kind, affable, affectionate, […]
ref: 1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 26:
glosses: A sustainable income.
examples: text: The bill was denied royal assent because the Scottish Parliament does not have legislative competence on the bill's matter.
text: K C Wheare's definition of federalism requires that two governments be independent and co-ordinate within their own spheres, generally set out by the division of competences codified in a constitution, which is supreme.
ref: 2016, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, “Division of competences in the European Union”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
text: Also, the Constitutional Court has tried to reduce impunity in cases of human rights abuses by narrowly interpreting the legal competence of military justice to investigate military and police officers.
ref: 2003, Rodrigo Uprimny, “The constitutional court and control of presidential extraordinary powers in Colombia”, in Democratization, archived from the original on 09 May 2021:
topics: government
law
politics
glosses: the legal authority to deal with a matter.
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: The degree to which a rock is resistant to deformation or flow.
Synonyms: word: ability
word: competency
word: nous
word: savoir-faire
word: knack
word: aptitude
Derived terms: communicative competence
competence porn
core competence
dyscompetence
emotional competence
Gillick competence
hypercompetence
immunocompetence
multicompetence
neurocompetence
noncompetence
omnicompetence
osmocompetence
retrocompetence
rhizocompetence
strategic competence
undercompetence
Related terms: compete
competition
competentness