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) 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.