Synonyms for competence
Most common
All synonyms
Noun
1. Competency
competency, skill, capacity, proficiency, ability, efficiency, power, capability, qualification, aptitude, prowess, talent, adequacy, sufficiency, enough, knack informal, fitness, faculty, craft, facility, skillfulness US, skilfulness UK, ableness
Other
Definitions
- n. 1
The quality or state of being competent, i.e. able or suitable for a general role.
Related words
- Word family
- competence-competence compete competition competentness
Forms
- Plural
- competences → competencies, skills, capacities, proficiencies…
Example sentences
- capacity Mr Brown was acting in the capacity of ambassador.
- skill Has Tom started learning a new skill for survival?
- proficiency He has increased his proficiency in English greatly.
- competency I'm casting aspersions on his competency as a statistician.
- nous Hair and nous don't fit in one head.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| competence | steady | |
| capacity | falling | |
| skill | steady | |
| proficiency | steady | |
| competency | steady | |
| nous | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- nous1
- 5 letters
- power2, skill1, craft1, knack1
- 6 letters
- enough2, talent2
- 7 letters
- ability4, fitness2, faculty3, prowess2
- 8 letters
- capacity4, facility4, aptitude3, adequacy4, ableness
- 10 letters
- efficiency4, capability5, competency4
- 11 letters
- proficiency4, sufficiency4, skilfulness
- 12 letters
- skillfulness
- 13 letters
- qualification5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (power2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- compétence
- Italiano
- competenza
- Deutsch
- Zuständigkeit