competence

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See also: compétence

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French compétence, from Late Latin competentia.

Pronunciation

Noun

competence (countable and uncountable, plural competences)

  1. (uncountable) The quality or state of being competent, i.e. able or suitable for a general role.
    • 2005, Lies Sercu and Ewa Bandura, Foreign Language Teachers and Intercultural Competence: An International Investigation:
      Teachers are now required to teach intercultural communicative competence.
  2. (countable) The quality or state of being able or suitable for a particular task; the quality or state of being competent for a particular task.
  3. (linguistics) The system of linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers of a language, as opposed to its actual use in concrete situations (performance), cf. w:linguistic competence.
  4. (dated) A sustainable income.
    • Alexander Pope
      Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, / Lie in three words — health, peace, and competence.
    • 1811, Jane Austen, chapter 17, in Sense and Sensibility:
      “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.”
  5. (countable) In law, the legal authority to deal with a matter.
    That question is out with the competence of this court and must be taken to a higher court.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations

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References