competency — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The ability to perform some task; competence.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   The loan demonstrates, in regard to instrumental resources, the competency of this kingdom to the assertion of the common cause.

   What professional competencies do science teachers need?

   More examples (2)

   By the year 2000, American students will leave grades four, eight, and twelve having demonstrated competency in challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, history, and geography....

   The decision was then made to return '91s' and Mk 4s. These are being retained on the Yorkshire routes to keep driver competency in one area, to help with operations.

2. An individual's capacity to understand the nature and implications of their legal rights and obligations.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

3. Implicit knowledge of a language’s structure.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

4. A sufficient supply of something.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Obsolete
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   the next day they returned unsuspected, leaving their confederates to follow, and in the interim, to convay them a competencie of all things they could […]

   […] it would appear that before taking this precaution Mr. Bree must have had the thrift to remove a modest competency of the gold […]

5. A sustainable income.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Obsolete
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer.

   And that knights competency you haue gotten / VVith care and labour: he vvith luſt and idleneſſe / VVill bring into the ſtypend of a begger; […]

   More examples (1)

   He had heard people speak contemptuously of money: he wondered if they had ever tried to do without it. He knew that the lack made a man petty, mean, grasping; it distorted his character and caused him to view the world from a vulgar angle; when you had to consider every penny, money became of grotesque importance: you needed a competency to rate it at its proper value.

Noun

1. the quality of being adequately or well qualified physically and intellectually

   Synonyms

   competence

   Broader terms

   ability