different between competent vs correct

English

Etymology

From Middle English competent, conpetent, from Old French competent (modern French compétent), from Latin competens, competentem, present participle of compet? (“coincide, be equal to, be capable of”). Compare Dutch competent (“competent”), German kompetent (“competent”), Danish kompetent (“competent”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?mp?t?nt/

Adjective

competent (comparative more competent, superlative most competent)

1. Having sufficient skill, knowledge, ability, or qualifications.

   He is a competent skier and an expert snowboarder.
2. (law) Having jurisdiction or authority over a particular issue or question.

   For any disagreements arising from this contract, the competent court shall be the Springfield Circuit Court.

   judicial authority having competent jurisdiction

3. Adequate for the purpose
   • 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 67:

     For if they [birds] had been Viviparous, the burthen of their womb, if they had brought forth any competent number at a time, had been ?o big and heavy, that their wings would have failed them, and ?o every body would have had the wit to catch the Old one.

4. (biology, of a cell wall) Permeable to foreign DNA.
5. (geology) Resistant to deformation or flow.

Antonyms

• incompetent

Related terms

• bicompetent
• competence
• competentness
• compete
• competition
• tricompetent

Translations

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin compet?ns.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /kom.p??tent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /kum.p??ten/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /kom.pe?tent/

Adjective

competent (masculine and feminine plural competents)

1. competent (having sufficient skill)

   Antonym: incompetent

2. (law) competent (having jurisdiction or authority)

Derived terms

• competentment

Related terms

• competència
• competir
• incompetent

Further reading

• “competent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “competent” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “competent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “competent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch competent, from Middle French competent, from Latin compet?ns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?m.p??t?nt/
• Hyphenation: com?pe?tent
• Rhymes: -?nt

Adjective

competent (comparative competenter, superlative competentst)

1. competent

Inflection

Derived terms

• competentie
• incompetent

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: kompeten

Latin

Verb

competent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of compet?

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin compet?ns.

Adjective

competent m (feminine singular competenta, masculine plural competents, feminine plural competentas)

1. competent

Derived terms

• competentament

Related terms

• competéncia
• incompetent

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French compétent, Latin competens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kom.pe?tent/

Adjective

competent m or n (feminine singular competent?, masculine plural competen?i, feminine and neuter plural competente)

1. competent

Declension

Related terms

• competen??
• competi?ie

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k????kt/
• Rhymes: -?kt
• Hyphenation: cor?rect

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French correct, from Latin correctus (“improved, amended, correct”), past participle of corrigere, conrigere (“to make straight, make right, make better, improve, correct”), from com- (“together”) + regere (“to make straight, rule”).

Adjective

correct (comparative more correct, superlative most correct)

1. Free from error; true; accurate.

2. With good manners; well behaved; conforming with accepted standards of behaviour.

Synonyms

• (free from error): right
• (with good manners): well-mannered, well behaved

Antonyms

• (without error): incorrect, inaccurate
• (with good manners): uncouth

Derived terms

Translations

Interjection

correct

1. (India) Used to indicate acknowledgement or acceptance.

   Synonym: OK

Etymology 2

From Middle English correcten, borrowed from Anglo-Norman correcter, from Latin correctus.

Verb

correct (third-person singular simple present corrects, present participle correcting, simple past and past participle corrected)

1. (transitive) To make something that was wrong become right; to remove error from.
   • 2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 27:

     Her millions of adoring fans had yet to hear her speak, and when she finally did, she sounded more like a sailor than a starlet, spewing a profanity-laced, G-dropping Brooklynese that no amount of dialect coaching could correct.

2. (by extension, transitive) To grade (examination papers).

3. (transitive) To inform (someone) of their error.

4. (transitive) To discipline; to punish.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:repair

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• correct in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• correct in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• correct at OneLook Dictionary Search

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French correct, from Latin corr?ctus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??r?kt/
• Hyphenation: cor?rect
• Rhymes: -?kt

Adjective

correct (comparative correcter, superlative correctst)

1. correct

Inflection

Synonyms

• juist

Derived terms

• correctheid
• incorrect

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin correctus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?.??kt/
• (Quebec, informal) IPA^(key): /k?.??k/

Adjective

correct (feminine singular correcte, masculine plural corrects, feminine plural correctes)

1. correct, right

2. (colloquial) passable, okay

3. (Quebec, colloquial) OK, fine, alright

Derived terms

• politiquement correct

Related terms

• correctement
• correctif
• correction
• corriger
• incorrect
• incorrectement

Further reading

• “correct” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).