different between fact vs competency

English

Etymology

From Latin factum (“a deed, act, exploit; in Medieval Latin also state, condition, circumstance”), neuter of factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faci? (“do, make”). Doublet of feat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fækt/
• Rhymes: -ækt

Noun

fact (countable and uncountable, plural facts)

1. Something actual as opposed to invented.
2. Something which is real.

   Gravity is a fact, not a theory.

3. Something concrete used as a basis for further interpretation.

4. An objective consensus on a fundamental reality that has been agreed upon by a substantial number of experts.

5. Information about a particular subject, especially actual conditions and/or circumstances.

6. (databases) An individual value or measurement at the lowest level of granularity in a data warehouse.
7. (archaic) Action; the realm of action.
8. (law, obsolete except in set phrases) A wrongful or criminal deed.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ix:

     She was empassiond at that piteous act, / With zelous enuy of Greekes cruell fact, / Against that nation [...].

9. (obsolete) A feat or meritorious deed.

Antonyms

• (Something actual): fiction

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• value
• opinion
• belief

References

• fact at OneLook Dictionary Search
• fact in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• fact in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• "Conway: 'Alternative Facts'" Merriam-Webster's Trend Watch Merriam-Webster. 2017.

Interjection

fact

1. Used before making a statement to introduce it as a trustworthy one.

Anagrams

• acft

English

Etymology

From French compétence.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?mp?t?nsi/

Noun

competency (countable and uncountable, plural competencies)

1. (obsolete) A sufficient supply (of).
   • 1612, John Smith, Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia, in Kupperman 1988, p. 178:

     the next day they returned unsuspected, leaving their confederates to follow, and in the interim, to convay them a competencie of all things they could […]

   • 1892, Ambrose Bierce, Tales of Soldiers and Civilians - A Holy Terror

     […] it would appear that before taking this precaution Mr. Bree must have had the thrift to remove a modest competency of the gold […]

2. (obsolete) A sustainable income.
   • 1915, W.S. Maugham, Of Human Bondage, chapter 116:

     He had heard people speak contemptuously of money: he wondered if they had ever tried to do without it. He knew that the lack made a man petty, mean, grasping; it distorted his character and caused him to view the world from a vulgar angle; when you had to consider every penny, money became of grotesque importance: you needed a competency to rate it at its proper value.

3. The ability to perform some task; competence.
   • 1796, Edmund Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace

     The loan demonstrates, in regard to instrumental resources, the competency of this kingdom to the assertion of the common cause.
4. (law) Meeting specified qualifications to perform.
5. (linguistics) Implicit knowledge of a language’s structure.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:skill

Translations