All 5 Uses of
competent
in
Howards End
- Still less did she pretend that nothing had happened, as a competent society hostess would have done.†
Part 3 *competent = sufficiently capable
- Oh, Meg—, that's what I felt, only not so clearly, when the Wilcoxes were so competent, and seemed to have their hands on all the ropes.†
Part 4
- Oh dear, she was incompetent!†
Part 13incompetent = 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.
- What was behind their competent stare?†
Part 22competent = sufficiently capable
- On her return from the George the building operations were complete, and the old Henry fronted her, competent, cynical, and kind.†
Part 29
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) 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.