competent
Able to do something well enough.
competent in a sentence
- After a term of lessons, Ruby was a competent swimmer who could manage four lengths easily.
- After weeks of lessons, Dev became a competent baker whose loaves rose perfectly every time.
Try an 11+ style question
Verbal reasoning papers often ask about a word like this.
Which word is closest in meaning to competent?
- Acapable
- Buseless
- Chopeless
Show the answer
A: capable. The other three mean the opposite of competent.
Which word is most nearly opposite in meaning to competent?
- Aable
- Buseless
- Ccapable
- Dskilled
Show the answer
B: useless. The other three mean nearly the same as competent.
Words that mean something similar
capable, skilled, able
Words that mean the opposite
useless, hopeless
More words about thinking & learning
- complex: Made of many parts, and hard to understand or work out.
- comprehend: To fully understand something.
- concoct: To make something by mixing things, or to invent a story or plan.
- conscious: Awake, and aware of what is happening around you.
- contrary: Completely opposite to something else.
- crucial: Extremely important; something everything else depends on.
- cryptic: Having a hidden meaning that is hard to work out.
- decipher: To work out what something difficult or secret means.
More words to explore
Sitting the 11+ in Kent, Medway or Buckinghamshire?
Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test