Definition of "competent"

competent

/ˈkɒmpətənt/

adjective
comparative more competent, superlative most competent
1. Having sufficient skill, knowledge, ability, or qualifications.
  Quotations
  I believe in that myself because it has been explained by competent men as the convolutions of the grey matter.
  1922, James Joyce, Ulysses
  That as a competent keyless citizen he had proceeded energetically from the unknown to the known through the incertitude of the void.
  1922, James Joyce, Ulysses
2. (law) Having jurisdiction or authority over a particular issue or question.
3. Adequate for the purpose.
  Quotations
  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 ſo big and heavy, that their wings would have failed them, and ſo every body would have had the wit to catch the Old one.
  1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 67
4. (biology, of a cell wall) Permeable to foreign DNA.
5. (geology) Resistant to deformation or flow.