All 6 Uses of
competent
in
Gone with the Wind
- There had always been friends, neighbors, the competent hands of willing slaves.†
Chpt 3.21competent = sufficiently capable
- He did them silently, patiently and competently.†
Chpt 3.30 *competently = in a capable or adequate manner
- He listened to her moans about lost customers and bad debts, the swindling ways of Mr. Johnson and the incompetency of Hugh.†
Chpt 4.38incompetency = inability to do things sufficientlystandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in incompetency means not and reverses the meaning of competency. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- Everybody in Atlanta who is smart is busy with his own affairs and the others are so incompetent and—†
Chpt 4.41incompetent = not sufficiently capablestandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in incompetent means not and reverses the meaning of competent. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- Hugh was so incompetent, for all that he tried so hard.†
Chpt 4.41
- They'll simply suffer in proud and incompetent silence.†
Chpt 4.43
Definitions:
-
(1)
(competent) capable (able to do something in a generally satisfactory manner) -- sometimes specifically to have legal capability
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
In the field of law, competent has the specialized meaning of being legally qualified to do something such as to be mentally fit to make reasonable decisions; or to have jurisdiction or authority to take an action.
In classic literature, a competency can refer to having an income or assets to support living expenses.