Competence

[kom-pi-tuh ns] /ˈkɒm pɪ təns/

noun
1.
the quality of being ; adequacy; possession of required skill, knowledge, qualification, or capacity:
He hired her because of her competence as an accountant.
2.
an income sufficient to furnish the necessities and modest comforts of life.
3.
sufficiency; a sufficient quantity.
4.
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.
5.
Embryology. the sum total of possible developmental responses of any group of blastemic cells under varied external conditions.
6.
Linguistics. the implicit, internalized knowledge of a language that a speaker possesses and that enables the speaker to produce and understand the language.
Compare (def 8).
7.
Immunology. .
8.
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.
/ˈkɒmpɪtəns/
noun
1.
the condition of being capable; ability
2.
a sufficient income to live on
3.
the state of being legally competent or qualified
4.
(embryol) the ability of embryonic tissues to react to external conditions in a way that influences subsequent development
5.
(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)
n.

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 com·pe·tence (kŏm’pĭ-təns)
n.

competence
(kŏm’pĭ-təns)