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
The 1966 team wasn’t great either (72-90), but since the 1967 Impossible Dream season Red Sox fans have usually been able to count on a certain baseline of competence.
—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
14 June 2026
But competence can engender yearning for its opposite, for a metabolizing, in-medias-res idea.
—
Lauren Michele Jackson,
New Yorker,
11 June 2026
Meanwhile, despite some early fits and starts of competence, the Marlins and Rockies are, yet again, quite bad.
—
Levi Weaver,
New York Times,
9 June 2026
Allan Culver currently serves as my special counsel, has been a prosecutor here for 24 years and has handled every kind of case from traffic to murder with outstanding competence.
—
Haven Shoemaker,
Baltimore Sun,
9 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for competence
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
14 June 2026
But competence can engender yearning for its opposite, for a metabolizing, in-medias-res idea.
—
Lauren Michele Jackson,
New Yorker,
11 June 2026
Meanwhile, despite some early fits and starts of competence, the Marlins and Rockies are, yet again, quite bad.
—
Levi Weaver,
New York Times,
9 June 2026
Allan Culver currently serves as my special counsel, has been a prosecutor here for 24 years and has handled every kind of case from traffic to murder with outstanding competence.
—
Haven Shoemaker,
Baltimore Sun,
9 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for competence
Recent Examples of Synonyms for competence
Noun
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In one of his rougher outings of the season, Meyer showed his ability to steady himself in the middle and prevent a game from unraveling, the kind of adversity every starting pitcher is guaranteed to face at some point.
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Still scoreless at halftime After 45 minutes, neither team has been able to score a goal, which will be crucial to their ability to move forward in the Round of 32.
Noun
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Demand for powerful chips has become essentially infinite thanks to the AI boom—yet the global supply of chips remains capped by how many EUV lithography machines one company can crank out, and by how much fab capacity one other company has available.
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The renovation will reduce capacity from 51,913 to approximately 50,000.
Noun
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Time and time again in the history of technology, monopolistic industry leaders that long seemed invincible—from Xerox to IBM to AT&T—have proven vulnerable to agile upstarts and technology advances that broke markets wide open by lowering costs, expanding supply and leapfrogging capabilities.
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Both the council and Congress have floated some good ideas for streamlining disaster assistance, reducing administrative burdens and improving uneven recovery capabilities among states.
Noun
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Those leading campus organizations are building competencies in communication, budgeting and conflict resolution.
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As of Monday’s board meeting, the department was still drafting the statewide competency requirements, as well as rubrics to assure the instruction is high-quality.
Cite this Entry
“Competence.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/competence. Accessed 26 Jun. 2026.
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