as in ability
the physical or mental power to do something
questioned his competence to finish the task without help
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of competence
When things go wrong—the flight gets delayed, the Airbnb code won’t work—children can learn flexibility, competence, and patience.
—
Faith Hill, The Atlantic, 27 Aug. 2025
At a minimum the conduct at issue exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.
—Todd Spangler, Freep.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Woke is the opposite of reassuring, but anti-woke isn’t enough to project competence.
—Clive Crook, Twin Cities, 21 Aug. 2025
Washington’s failings extend across administrations for a reason: American officials, Democrats and Republicans alike, have not taken China’s competence seriously.
—Dan Wang, Foreign Affairs, 19 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for competence
Faith Hill, The Atlantic, 27 Aug. 2025
At a minimum the conduct at issue exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.
—Todd Spangler, Freep.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Woke is the opposite of reassuring, but anti-woke isn’t enough to project competence.
—Clive Crook, Twin Cities, 21 Aug. 2025
Washington’s failings extend across administrations for a reason: American officials, Democrats and Republicans alike, have not taken China’s competence seriously.
—Dan Wang, Foreign Affairs, 19 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for competence
Recent Examples of Synonyms for competence
Noun
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The ability to generate mid-infrared light efficiently could also open new frontiers in chemical and environmental analysis.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
13 Sep. 2025
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And only recently, new large language models in artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, promise to greatly expand our ability to manipulate and employ enormous quantities of data.—
Alan Lightman
September 12,
Literary Hub,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The company was also finding ways to increase overall storage capacity with existing hardware as well as providing new hardware with greater storage capacity in the same rack space.—
Thomas Coughlin,
Forbes.com,
15 Sep. 2025
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In a test setting, the fluid enabled a battery pack to be charged from 10% to 80% capacity in under ten minutes.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
14 Sep. 2025
Noun
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This milestone reinforces the company’s commitment to advancing the next generation of loitering munitions—delivering adaptable, scalable, and integrated capabilities to meet the demands of today’s dynamic operational environments, according to AeroVironment (AV).—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
14 Sep. 2025
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Congress has also taken note of the gap between Chinese and American drone capabilities.—
Joseph Nepomuceno,
The Washington Examiner,
13 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Governments must incentivize reskilling, corporations must make training transparent and accessible, and workers must take agency in developing new competencies.—
Jason Wingard,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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After his arrest in Zarutska's killing, prosecutors filed a motion for another competency evaluation.—
Dan Gooding
Shane Croucher
Jason Lemon,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Competence.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/competence. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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