All 3 Uses of
competent
in
The Hunger Games
- Then at the others, the underfed, the incompetent, shakily having their first lessons with a knife or an ax.
p. 95.3incompetent = 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.
- She tries to shoot me and it's immediately evident that she's incompetent with a bow.
p. 182.9 *
- But then I bite my tongue, realizing what that must sound like to Peeta, who is dying, in my incompetent hands.
p. 272.9
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.