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proficiency
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show 134 more with this conextual meaning
  • I am proficient to some degree.†   (source)
  • But as far as proficient military fighting went ….†   (source)
  • My verse continued to be techni cally proficient and dead as Huck Finn's cat.†   (source)
  • Someone proficient in elemental magic?†   (source)
  • There is no reason to suppose this is not an area in which I will become proficient given time and practice, but, such are the dangers, I have decided it best, for the time being at least, not to attempt to discharge this duty in respect of Mr Farraday until I have practised further.†   (source)
  • To pass, you must show proficiency in all twenty.†   (source)
  • He had to give her a furnished house in exchange for her swearing that the author of her dishonor was a part-time, Sunday sweetheart who had never even kissed her, and her father and uncles, who were proficient sugarcane cutters, forced them to marry.†   (source)
  • The Japanese field soldier, trained in the art of kendo, or stick fighting, was exceptionally proficient at killing in this manner.†   (source)
  • One of the attendants was washing the sea-lion manure off the middle platform of the pool, and at least he was able to do that with a certain degree of proficiency.†   (source)
  • He'd made himself proficient in every field-medicine, science, philosophy, art.†   (source)
  • The censorship delayed the delivery of mail because warders, some of whom were not proficient in English, might take as long as a month to censor a letter.†   (source)
  • This young man, Duke, a friend of Paul's, played the piano with an intent self-consciousness, but he was very good, technically proficient and passionate too.†   (source)
  • Not as well as my mother, but I'm pretty proficient."†   (source)
  • He became proficient at getting the books checked in and checked out rapidly, and he would often converse with the library patrons about the books that they had read.†   (source)
  • So how about the opposite case: what if a mother and father are not only proficient in English but spend their weekends broadening their child's cultural horizons by taking him to museums?†   (source)
  • Yvette was by far the most competent of my coworkers, and she and I would often work together on any electrical job requiring proficiency with tools.†   (source)
  • He could only have hoped that it would occur to me that I needed a proficient but anonymous thief whose absence from the city wouldn't be noticed.†   (source)
  • Most had not been allowed to pursue their own career goals despite their proficiency and despite their party membership.†   (source)
  • " She reflected that perhaps that was what she had held back--she had never become proficient at early rising, despite all the practice she'd had.†   (source)
  • Johnny, smaller and leaner, became a proficient and scrappy fighter but never achieved his brother's success.†   (source)
  • Once the platoon workup was finished, Adam was cleared by Medical, having exhibited proficiency in SEAL tasks, but with the notation that he was doing so with limited vision in his dominant eye.†   (source)
  • Two-thirds of 12th-graders scored below "proficient" on the last national civics assessment in 1998, and only 9 percent could list two ways a democracy benefits from citizen participation.†   (source)
  • He'd wanted to learn to play the piano and the violin, and he'd become proficient enough to write his own music.†   (source)
  • He did not know English when he began first grade; by the end of the year he was so proficient in it that he skipped the second.†   (source)
  • Havermeyer had grown very proficient at shooting field mice at night with the gun he had stolen from the dead man in Yossarian's tent.†   (source)
  • I shall teach you the vasectomy, and once you are proficient, you can pay me back by doing a vasectomy on a VIP patient.†   (source)
  • Cesar said, feigning a lack of English proficiency.†   (source)
  • It was endless, brute labor, but they were remarkably proficient at it— far more so than their British counterparts.†   (source)
  • Appearance, intellect, breeding, and proficiency.†   (source)
  • Although we spent a lot of time in Afghanistan and Iraq, we needed to be proficient in the water.†   (source)
  • Math was spent taking a diagnostic test to gauge their proficiency.†   (source)
  • Pig was impressive and handsome in his uniform, though this was the single room on campus where military bearing and proficiency meant nothing at all.†   (source)
  • The languages they spoke, in rank of proficiency.†   (source)
  • I'm reasonably proficient with computers; anyone doing what I do would be.†   (source)
  • Though primarily known for his ferocious proficiency in battle, Heafstaag was a leader who carefully weighed his every move.†   (source)
  • By the end of the day, the trainee will be as proficient at the laser welder as Maddie.†   (source)
  • She returned to the desert each and every morning, even after her instructors declared her proficient.†   (source)
  • And—to make a long story short—after a while the little pilgrim becomes proficient with the prayer.†   (source)
  • The largest says that in the twenty-third year of the National Republic, the To Keung School of Midwifery, where she has had two years of instruction and Hospital Practice, awards its Diploma to my mother, who has shown through oral and written examination her Proficiency in Midwifery, Pediatrics, Gynecology, "Medecine," "Surgary," Therapeutics, Ophthalmology, Bacteriology, Dermatology, Nursing, and Bandage.†   (source)
  • Antiseptic proficiency.†   (source)
  • Doubtless because of her proficiency in other tongues, Sophie was far and away the prize student among this motley of striving scholars, a polyglot group but mainly Yiddish-speaking refugees from all the destroyed corners of Europe; her excellence had no doubt attracted Mr. Youngstein to her, although Sophie was hardly so lacking in self-awareness as to be unmindful of the fact that her simple physical presence might have worked upon the young man its plainly troubling effect.†   (source)
  • He must be 23 to 25 years old, in perfect health, at least six feet tall, weigh about 190 pounds, fluent English with some French, proficient with all weapons, some knowledge of engineering and mathematics essential, willing to travel, no family or emotional ties, indomitably courageous and handsome of face and figure.†   (source)
  • Gladly would I become your executioner, dispatching for you your enemies with a saffron cord-or with a blade, or pike, or with my hands, for I am proficient with all weapons, having spent three lifetimes learning their use-but I know that such is not your way.†   (source)
  • He was surprised at the sight of it, and at his neatness and proficiency in blowing it out.†   (source)
  • I can't recall that anyone was fired for flying proficiency shortcomings.†   (source)
  • So we set up a program to assist and improve the proficiency of aviation English.†   (source)
  • In order to gain a better idea of their exact proficiency, Eragon had them cast a series of spells.†   (source)
  • I think their employer will attest to the fact that I'm a reasonably proficient marksman.†   (source)
  • We need more students proficient in math, science and engineering.†   (source)
  • They were proficient in the techniques of war.†   (source)
  • We often wondered if the original Jason Bourne was as proficient as his successor.†   (source)
  • As Gannel set his weapon on a rack, Eragon said, "Are all Quan so proficient with the blade?†   (source)
  • I found no area where they were remotely proficient.†   (source)
  • His wife, Lou, was an extremely proficient woman.†   (source)
  • We were ordered by Ajihad to test Eragon's proficiency with magic-beforeyou exhaust him banging on pieces of metal.†   (source)
  • He was, in Sergeant Maples's experience, a man both technically proficient at stick fighting and willing to inflict violence on another man.†   (source)
  • Turning up half an hour after our state issued Proficiency Exam had begun, widespread classroom laughter at his puzzled face through the wire reinforced glass of the locked door: hah, our bright future, he'd said scornfully when on the way home I'd tried to explain to him about standardized tests.†   (source)
  • For a few long seconds he was too busy warding her off to think about it, then he realized,She wants to know how proficient I am.†   (source)
  • And at this point, sir, in the scenario, could the defendant not—a trained kendo master, remember, a man proficient at killing with a stick, lethal and experienced at stick fighting— could the defendant not have leapt aboard and killed Carl Heine with a hard blow to the skull, hard enough to crack it open?†   (source)
  • It is true, you must be capable with your weapon, but anyone with the time and the inclination can acquire technical proficiency.†   (source)
  • In addition to their robes, all students wore magechains, silver necklaces whose weight and value increased as they attained various proficiencies.†   (source)
  • Ramius became known as a captain whose officers were both proficient and models of political conformity.†   (source)
  • There are many players at the higher levls of baseball who can hit with ease from either side of the plate, but far fewer who can throw with equal proficiency right or left handed.†   (source)
  • Wielding the spear with the same proficiency as her sword, Arya fought her way through the men, dispatching them with impressive speed.†   (source)
  • The fisherman returned the dwarf's scowl, but he had witnessed Bruenor's proficiency in battle and thought the better of pushing him too far.†   (source)
  • NEWLY ZEN thanks to Yoga Janet, well fed by Pop, and now proficient in concrete-mixing as well as rudimentary electrical work, I felt as if I were making the most of this prison thing.†   (source)
  • Adam's superior, another lieutenant, noted in his March 25 evaluation that Adam was a "proven, tactically proficient operator" and that he had been selected as "operator of the quarter" due to his performance while deployed.†   (source)
  • The truth was that Gorshkov's candidate was not so proficient an officer as Ramius, whom Gorshkov had wanted for his own operations staff, a post that Ramius had successfully evaded for years.†   (source)
  • Even the guarded, cat-like walk, the long arms loose at the sides, that were so obviously proficient in the deadly arts.†   (source)
  • For the first few strenuous minutes, they were fairly matched, but in the end, Glaedr's strength, experience, and cunning combined with Arya's rigorous proficiency proved too much for Eragon and Saphira to overcome, and they had no choice but to concede defeat.†   (source)
  • It was a simple rule of life in Icewind Dale that if you couldn't fight, you couldn't survive, and the spokesmen of the council were some of the most proficient fighters in all of Ten-Towns.†   (source)
  • Jason Bourne, one of the most proficient demolitions men to come out of Medusa, looked at McAllister.†   (source)
  • …now as if he were suddenly speaking to her, an identifiable human being, rather than to a slave laborer, eine schmutzige Polin, plucked out of the swarm of diseased and dying ants through incredible luck (or by the grace of God, she sometimes devoutly reflected) and by virtue of the fact that she was doubtless one of the very few prisoners, if not the only one, who, bilingual in Polish and German, was also proficient on the typewriter in both languages and knew Gabelsberger shorthand.†   (source)
  • I will show you lots of medicines"; and then the lucky person becomes a proficient doctor.†   (source)
  • It was called Jewels Five Words Long: A Treasury of English Verse, and on the fly-leaf was pasted a printed certificate - Awarded to … and then the name of Coral Fellows filled up in ink … for proficiency in English Composition, Third Grade.†   (source)
  • He was as proficient as any of the other young men in the usual County diversions, hunting, gambling, dancing and politics, and was the best rider of them all; but he differed from all the rest in that these pleasant activities were not the end and aim of life to him.†   (source)
  • I even got some fun out of it, and at the end of the lesson Hermine announced that I was now proficient in the fox trot.†   (source)
  • I was now so proficient in dancing that I felt quite equal to playing my part at the Ball of which everybody was talking.†   (source)
  • To Mary and Harriet, it seemed as though she tried to make trouble for them by her proficiency.†   (source)
  • Why not subpoena as well the clerical proficients?†   (source)
  • Her training had all been toward the end of making her proficient in what she had undertaken to do.†   (source)
  • There are all degrees of proficiency in knowledge of the world.†   (source)
  • Mr. Darcy spoke with affectionate praise of his sister's proficiency.†   (source)
  • My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students, and my proficiency that of the masters.†   (source)
  • I will not oppose such kind politeness; but I should be sorry to be examined by a real proficient.†   (source)
  • If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient.†   (source)
  • In the use of the globes both are proficients.†   (source)
  • The space between his two front teeth, which were unusually far apart, gave him the proficiency in whistling for which he was distinguished at college.†   (source)
  • The triumph of Pitman was a triumph of business organization: there was a weekly paper to persuade you to learn Pitman: there were cheap textbooks and exercise books and transcripts of speeches for you to copy, and schools where experienced teachers coached you up to the necessary proficiency.†   (source)
  • Invariably a proficient in his perilous calling, he was also more or less of a mighty boxer or wrestler.†   (source)
  • Dr. Bell is proficient in many fields of science, and has the art of making every subject he touches interesting, even the most abstruse theories.†   (source)
  • Though well-trained and even proficient masters, they occasionally used a dialect-word of their boyhood to each other in private.†   (source)
  • You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet and capable of preserving a secret.†   (source)
  • Naab was wonderfully proficient in the use of both firearms; and his skill in drawing the smaller weapon, in which his movement was quicker than the eye, astonished Hare.†   (source)
  • He had already gained great proficiency in manipulating his two blankets to form a smooth, regular package, turning himself into a veritable mummy for his cold-weather rest cures.†   (source)
  • And inquiry revealed the fact that girls at this company were always started at nine or ten dollars, quickly taught some one of the various phases of piece work and then, once they were proficient, were frequently able to earn as much as from fourteen to sixteen dollars, according to their skill.†   (source)
  • He had calculated that he must expend considerable energy to make any speed, until practice had rendered him proficient.†   (source)
  • Strange that his first aspiration—towards academical proficiency—had been checked by a woman, and that his second aspiration—towards apostleship—had also been checked by a woman.†   (source)
  • As to any differences among themselves these clerical proficients might develop on the stand, these could hardly be greater than the direct contradictions exchanged between the remunerated medical experts.†   (source)
  • In the classical tongues was she deeply proficient, and as far as my own acquaintance extended in regard to the modern dialects of Europe, I have never known her at fault.†   (source)
  • While I complied, he, not comprehending a single word, would stand before the fire surveying me with the air of an Exhibitor, and I would see him, between the fingers of the hand with which I shaded my face, appealing in dumb show to the furniture to take notice of my proficiency.†   (source)
  • , nine rupees, eight annas) for proficiency therein; and the same term played in St Xavier's eleven against the Alighur Mohammedan College, his age being fourteen years and ten months.†   (source)
  • The girls were indebted to their mother for this proficiency, having acquired from her, in childhood, an advantage that no subsequent study or labor can give without a drawback, if neglected beyond the earlier periods of life.†   (source)
  • …amount of previous knowledge to the subject than certain dim recollections of two or three very long sums entered into a ciphering-book at school, and relieved for parental inspection by the effigy of a fat swan tastefully flourished by the writing-master's own hand, he found himself, at the end of a fortnight, in a condition to report his proficiency to Mr Linkinwater, and to claim his promise that he, Nicholas Nickleby, should now be allowed to assist him in his graver labours.†   (source)
  • Little Harry—a fine bright boy—had been put to a good school, and was making rapid proficiency in knowledge.†   (source)
  • THE BIRTHMARK In the latter part of the last century there lived a man of science, an eminent proficient in every branch of natural philosophy, who not long before our story opens had made experience of a spiritual affinity more attractive than any chemical one.†   (source)
  • MANAGER The words you've bandied are sufficient; 'tis deeds that I prefer to see: In compliments you're both proficient, But might, the while, more useful be.†   (source)
  • Prince Turveydrop sometimes played the kit, dancing; sometimes played the piano, standing; sometimes hummed the tune with what little breath he could spare, while he set a pupil right; always conscientiously moved with the least proficient through every step and every part of the figure; and never rested for an instant.†   (source)
  • The old man rubbed his hands gleefully together, as he corroborated the Dodger's reasoning in these terms; and chuckled with delight at his pupil's proficiency.†   (source)
  • Her breath was, however, expended in vain; for, although distinguished in her nation as a proficient in the art of abuse, she was permitted to work herself into such a fury as actually to foam at the mouth, without causing a muscle to vibrate in the motionless figure of the stranger.†   (source)
  • So long as the assault on his faith was distant and feeble, Middleton, who was no great proficient in polemics, submitted to its effects with the patience and humility of a martyr; but the moment the good father, who felt such concern in his future happiness, was tempted to improve his vantage ground by calling in the aid of some of the peculiar subtilties of his own creed, the young man was too good a soldier not to make head against the hot attack.†   (source)
  • "Do tell me something amusing but not spiteful," said the ambassador's wife, a great proficient in the art of that elegant conversation called by the English, small talk.†   (source)
  • Mr. Crawley, as a diplomatist, was exceedingly proud of his own skill in speaking the French language (for he was of the world still), and not a little pleased with the compliments which the governess continually paid him upon his proficiency.†   (source)
  • When I say proficiency, I mean that perfection in the game which includes a comprehension of all the sources whence legitimate advantage may be derived.†   (source)
  • She was learned, erudite, wise, competent, curiously proficient in history, crammed with Latin, stuffed with Greek, full of Hebrew, and more of a Benedictine monk than a Benedictine nun.†   (source)
  • The best chess-player in Christendom may be little more than the best player of chess; but proficiency in whist implies capacity for success in all those more important undertakings where mind struggles with mind.†   (source)
  • These were, the great advantages of the trade, the proficiency of the Dodger, the amiability of Charley Bates, and the liberality of the Jew himself.†   (source)
  • A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study; and I, who continually sought the attainment of one object of pursuit and was solely wrapped up in this, improved so rapidly that at the end of two years I made some discoveries in the improvement of some chemical instruments, which procured me great esteem and admiration at the university.†   (source)
  • In a little time I made great proficiency in the business, and became a useful hand to my brother.†   (source)
  • A prince ought also to show himself a patron of ability, and to honour the proficient in every art.†   (source)
  • Writing and accounts she was taught by her father; French by her mother: her proficiency in either was not remarkable, and she shirked her lessons in both whenever she could.†   (source)
  • …to the top; and I would therefore offer it to the consideration of those who superintend the education of our youth, whether, since many of those who begin with the Latin quit the same after spending some years without having made any great proficiency, and what they have learnt becomes almost useless, so that their time has been lost, it would not have been better to have begun with the French, proceeding to the Italian, etc.; for, tho', after spending the same time, they should quit…†   (source)
  • It was a letter of introduction, from Abbot Alexander, commending his nephew, James Fraser, to the attention of the Chevalier-St. George—otherwise known as His Majesty King James of Scotland—as a most proficient linguist and translator.†   (source)
  • The counterbalance of her proficiency of judgment regarding one person, proved true by experiment.†   (source)
  • Beside the young man he looked also at the photo of the lady now his 1440 legal wife who, he intimated, was the accomplished daughter of Major Brian Tweedy and displayed at an early age remarkable proficiency as a singer having even made her bow to the public when her years numbered barely sweet sixteen.†   (source)
  • "Body o' me," exclaimed Don Quixote, "what a proficient you are in the Italian language!†   (source)
  • …up a livelihood by stealing till they arrive at six years old; except where they are of towardly parts, although I confess they learn the rudiments much earlier; during which time they can however be properly looked upon only as probationers: As I have been informed by a principal gentleman in the county of Cavan, who protested to me, that he never knew above one or two instances under the age of six, even in a part of the kingdom so renowned for the quickest proficiency in that art.†   (source)
  • To conclude, I am so good a proficient in one quarter of an hour, that I can drink with any tinker in his own language during my life.†   (source)
  • In about a month's time, I had made a tolerable proficiency in their language, and was able to answer most of the king's questions, when I had the honour to attend him.†   (source)
  • It would enable them to discharge the duties of the camp and of the field with mutual intelligence and concert an advantage of peculiar moment in the operations of an army; and it would fit them much sooner to acquire the degree of proficiency in military functions which would be essential to their usefulness.†   (source)
  • He also, on the other hand, by his very serious questions and inquiries, made me a much better proficient in Scripture knowledge, than I should have been by my own private reading and study.†   (source)
  • My master was eager to learn "whence I came; how I acquired those appearances of reason, which I discovered in all my actions; and to know my story from my own mouth, which he hoped he should soon do by the great proficiency I made in learning and pronouncing their words and sentences."†   (source)
  • The next thing to be refrained, is obscene discourse, which is the language only of proficients in debauchery, who never repent, but in a gaol or hospital; and whose carcases relish no better than their discourse, till the body becomes too nasty for the soul to stay any longer in it.†   (source)
  • Four times a year the youth of a certain district meet to show their proficiency in running and leaping, and other feats of strength and agility; where the victor is rewarded with a song in his or her praise.†   (source)
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