Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Proficiency |
ProficiencyNoun1. The quality of having great facility and competence. 2. Skillfulness in the command of fundamentals deriving from practice and familiarity; "practice greatly improves proficiency". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "proficiency" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1644. (references) |
Synonym: ProficiencySynonym: technique (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Knowledge | Erudition, learning, lore, scholarship, reading, letters; literature; book madness; book learning, bookishness; bibliomania, bibliolatry; information, general information; store of knowledge; education; (teaching); culture, menticulture, attainments; acquirements, acquisitions; accomplishments; proficiency; practical knowledge; (skill); liberal education; dilettantism; rudiments; (beginning). |
Skill | Noun: skill, skillfulness, address; dexterity, dexterousness; adroitness, expertness; Adjective: proficiency, competence, technical competence, craft, callidity, facility, knack, trick, sleight; mastery, mastership, excellence, panurgy; ambidexterity, ambidextrousness; sleight of hand; (deception). |
Success | Triumph; (exultation); proficiency; (skill). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Proficiency |
| English words defined with "proficiency": field trial ♦ Improficiency ♦ Nonproficiency ♦ Proficience ♦ technical, Testamur ♦ Unproficiency, unskilled. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "proficiency": athletic coach ♦ CHECK PILOT, COORDINATOR OF REHABILITATION SERVICES ♦ DIANETIC COUNSELOR, dianeticist, director of rehabilitative service ♦ INSTRUCTOR, FLYING I, INSTRUCTOR, SPORTS ♦ Language Arts ♦ MANAGER, CARGO-AND-RAMP-SERVICES, MANAGER, FLIGHT CONTROL ♦ scientologist, scientology auditor, SCIMETAR, Smith's Prize-man, Speech Articulation Tests ♦ TRAFFIC-SAFETY ADMINISTRATOR. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Every screening laboratory must participate in a quality-control program that includes proficiency testing. (references) | |
Establishment of a national proficiency testing program should be a high priority, and it should yield predictive values of all test results. (references) | ||
Because some acupuncture practitioners have limited English proficiency, credentialing and licensing examinations should be provided in languages other than English where necessary. (references) | ||
Economic History | Malaysia | The government plans increased spending to overcome constraints in the supply of electricity and water that manifested themselves during 1998. It is working to strengthen IT education and technological proficiency. (references) |
Moldova | The younger generation has a better foreign language proficiency. (references) | |
Austria | Information about which businesses require proof of proficiency is available from the Economic Chamber of the province where the business will be operated (for Vienna, that is the Wirtschaftskammer Wien). (references) | |
Minorities | Estonia | After additional consultations with the European Union and the OSCE Commissioner for National Minorities, the Government issued the implementation decree for the amended law on May 15. For employees of private enterprises, nonprofit organizations, and foundations, as well as sole proprietors, the amended law established a requirement of proficiency in the Estonian language if it was in the public interest. (references) |
Estonia | Non-Estonian citizens who have obtained at least primary education proficiency in the language are exempted from the requirement to pass a language examination. (references) | |
Estonia | While the Government is to establish regulations pertaining to and describing the level of proficiency, the actual proficiency is to be determined through examination. (references) | |
Worker Rights | China | In addition many jobs require proficiency in Chinese (which limits opportunities for many ethnic Tibetans). (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | SCIMETAR, n. A curved sword of exceeding keenness, in the conduct of which certain Orientals attain a surprising proficiency, as the incident here related will serve to show. The account is translated from the Japanese by Shusi Itama, a famous writer of the thirteenth century. When the great Gichi-Kuktai was Mikado he condemned to decapitation Jijiji Ri, a high officer of the Court. Soon after the hour appointed for performance of the rite what was his Majesty's surprise to see calmly approaching the throne the man who should have been at that time ten minutes dead! "Seventeen hundred impossible dragons!" shouted the enraged monarch. "Did I not sentence you to stand in the market-place and have your head struck off by the public executioner at three o'clock? And is it not now 3:10?" "Son of a thousand illustrious deities," answered the condemned minister, "all that you say is so true that the truth is a lie in comparison. But your heavenly Majesty's sunny and vitalizing wishes have been pestilently disregarded. With joy I ran and placed my unworthy body in the market-place. The executioner appeared with his bare scimetar, ostentatiously whirled it in air, and then, tapping me lightly upon the neck, strode away, pelted by the populace, with whom I was ever a favorite. I am come to pray for justice upon his own dishonorable and treasonous head." "To what regiment of executioners does the black-boweled caitiff belong?" asked the Mikado. "To the gallant Ninety-eight Hundred and Thirty-seventh -- I know the man. His name is Sakko-Samshi." "Let him be brought before me," said the Mikado to an attendant, and a half-hour later the culprit stood in the Presence. "Thou bastard son of a three-legged hunchback without thumbs!" roared the sovereign -- "why didst thou but lightly tap the neck that it should have been thy pleasure to sever?" "Lord of Cranes of Cherry Blooms," replied the executioner, unmoved, "command him to blow his nose with his fingers." Being commanded, Jijiji Ri laid hold of his nose and trumpeted like an elephant, all expecting to see the severed head flung violently from him. Nothing occurred: the performance prospered peacefully to the close, without incident. All eyes were now turned on the executioner, who had grown as white as the snows on the summit of Fujiama. His legs trembled and his breath came in gasps of terror. "Several kinds of spike-tailed brass lions!" he cried; "I am a ruined and disgraced swordsman! I struck the villain feebly because in flourishing the scimetar I had accidentally passed it through my own neck! Father of the Moon, I resign my office." So saying, he gasped his top-knot, lifted off his head, and advancing to the throne laid it humbly at the Mikado's feet. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Dwight Eisenhower | 1953-1961 | We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Proficiency" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Proficiency" is used about 169 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 169 | 23,972 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "proficiency": linguistic proficiency. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "proficiency": post-proficiency. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "proficiency"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | zotësi (ability, aptitude, capacity, faculty, hand, ingenuity, knack, skill), mjeshtëri (accomplishment, art, artifice, artistry, experience, expertise, finesse, hand, handicraft, masterliness, mastership, mastery, neatness, profession, skill, workmanship), aftësi (ability, accomplishment, aptitude, bent, capability, capacity, disposition, facility, faculty, flair, gift, hand, knack, know how, neatness, power, qualification, science, skill, talent, value). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مهارة (adeptness, adroitness, cleverness, dexterity, expertise, expertness, know how, skill, skillfulness, smartness), حذق (cleverness, dexterity, know how, smartness), براعة (address, artfulness, artifice, cleverness, craft, craftiness, cunning, dexterity, facility, finesse, hand, ingeniousness, ingenuity, knack, know how, mastery, science, skill, skillfulness, sleight of hand, tact, trick, workmanship). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | умение (ability, accomplishment, address, art, artifice, cleverness, facility, faculty, know how, quality, savoir faire, science, skill, sleight, workmanship), вещина (accomplishment, science, skill, virtuosity), обиграност (skill, worldly wisdom), опитност (background, experience). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 熟练 (Proficient, skilful, skilled, Versed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | zbìhlost (mastery), dovednost (accomplishment, art, craft, cunning, facility, finesse, knack, science, skill). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | kompetence (competence, competency, jurisdiction). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | technische bekwaamheid, bedrevenheid (accomplishment, expertness, skilfulness, skill, skillfulness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | مهارت (Address, Artifice, Craft, Gripe, Ingenuity, Knack, Skill, Sophistication, Tact, Versatility, Workmanship), چیرگی (Effrontery), کاراءی (Efficiency), تخصص (Specialty), زبردستی (Dexterity, Skill, Sleight). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | taito (ability, know-how, knowledge, skill), taitavuus (ability, dexterity, expertness, skill), etevyys (ability, skill). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | maîtrise, grande compétence, compétence technique, compétence (province). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | tüchtigkeit (ability, competence, efficiency, prowess), Beschlagenheit. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ικανότητα (ability, aptitude, aptitude for, caliber, calibre, capability, capableness, capacity, competence, efficiency, faculty, fitness, knack, prowess, skill, sufficiency). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מיומ ות (artifice, dexterity, knack, nimbleness, skill), שליט" (ascendancy, authority, command, control, disposal, disposition, dominance, domination, dominion, mastery, predominance, predomination, take over), בקיאות (erudition, expertness, familiarity, skill, virtuosity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | jártasság (craft, cunning, deftness, familiarity, neatness, routine, skill), előmenetel (career, head, improvement, rise). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | keahlian (adeptness, competence, craft, expertise, know how). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | competenza (competence, competency, expertise, expertness, province). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 英語基礎能力試" (English Language Proficiency Test, TOEFL), 日本語能力試" (Japanese Language Proficiency Test, JLPT). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | にほ""のうりょくしけ" (Japanese Language Proficiency Test, JLPT), えい"きそのうりょくしけ" (English Language Proficiency Test, TOEFL). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 숙달. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | aghtallys (cleverness, versatility). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | oficiencypray proficiência (adeptness, skill), competência técnica, competência (ability, address, adeptness, aptness, authority, capacity, cognizance, competence, competency, province, qualification, scope), capacidade (ability, aptitude, aptness, art, attainment, bulk, capability, capacitance, capacity, competence, competency, content, contents, coryphaeus, craft, cunning, efficiency, energy, faculty, fitness, genius, head, know-how, load, measure, part, power, reach, room, size, tankage). (various references) experienţã (essay, experience, experiment, praxis, skill, test, trial), competinţã, aplicaţie (application, aptitude, inclination, panel, talent, use). (various references) умение (ability, art, cleverness, competence, knack, know how, practice, skilfulness, skill), сноровка (knack), опытность (worldliness). (various references) vičnost (cleverness, dexterity, mastery, skillfulness, technique), spretnost (adroitness, deftness, dexterity, handiness). (various references) profesionalidad, pericia (expertise, know how), habilidad (ability, address, adroitness, aptitude, aptness, artifice, capacity, cleverness, competence, competency, deftness, expertise, facility, habitably, know how, neatness, possibility, prowess, savoir faire, skilfulness, skill, skillfulness, sleight), competencia (adeptness, capability, capacity, competence, competency, competition, efficiency, opposition, province, purview, rivalry, scope), capacidad (ability, accommodation, accomplishment, aptitude, aptness, caliber, calibre, calling, capability, capacitance, capacity, competence, competency, disposition, fitness, know how, liking, power, size, suitability, talent). (various references) skicklighet (address, adroitness, aptitude, art, artifice, capability, cleverness, cunning, deftness, dexterity, expertise, expertness, faculty, fineness, ingenuity, knack, prowess, savoir faire, skill, skills), kunnighet (capability), färdighet (accomplishment, acquirement, art, attainment, dexterity, skill). (various references) yeterlik belgesi, yeterlik (ability, adequacy, capacity, competence, competency, efficiency, qualification, sufficiency), ustalık (art, artfulness, craftsmanship, deftness, dexterity, expertness, facility, feat, finesse, hand, handiness, ingeniousness, ingenuity, knack, masterliness, mastership, mastery, perfection, skill, sleight, subtility, subtlety, virtuosity, wizardry, workmanship), ehliyet (competence, competency, driver's licence, driver's license, driving licence, licence, qualification, ticket). (various references) уміння (art, cleverness, competence, competency, facility, know how), майстерність (address, art, craft, craftsmanship, cunning, feat, finesse, handicraft, mastership, mastery, neatness, skill, workmanship), досвідченість (conversance, experience, sophistication). (various references) sự t i giỏi. (various references) cymhendod (affectation, eloquence, knowledge, tidiness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Proficiency" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: profeciency, proficency, proficiens. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "proficiency" (pronounced prufi"shunsē) |
| 8 | -u f i" sh u n s ē | deficiency, efficiency, inefficiency, sufficiency. |
| 7 | -f i" sh u n s ē | immunodeficiency. |
| 4 | -u n s ē | absorbency, accountancy, agency, ascendancy, ascendency, buoyancy, clemency, cogency, competency, complacency, Conservancy, consistency, constancy, constituency, consultancy, contingency, counterinsurgency, currency, decency, delinquency, dependency, despondency, discrepancy, dormancy, emergency, equivalency, excellency, exigency, expectancy, expediency, fluency, frequency, hesitancy, incompetency, inconsistency, inconstancy, incumbency, indecency, infancy, infrequency, insolvency, insurgency, interagency, irrelevancy, latency, leniency, malignancy, militancy, nonemergency, occupancy, poignancy, potency, pregnancy, presidency, redundancy, regency, relevancy, residency, resiliency, solvency, stridency, stringency, tenancy, tendency, transparency, truancy, urgency, vacancy, vagrancy, vibrancy. |
| 3 | -n s ē | bouncy, chancy, deviancy, fancy, fiancee, mincy, Nancy, necromancy, teensy. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-c-e-f-i-i-n-o-p-r-y" | |
-3 letters: ciceroni, coprince, pecorini. | |
-4 letters: coinfer, conifer, cornice, crocein, crocine, cryonic, oneiric, orifice, porcine, porcini, ripieno. | |
-5 letters: cicero, coiner, confer, copier, crepon, finery, iconic, irenic, ironic, orcein, orpine, picnic, picric, pincer, pinery, pinier, pionic, pricey, prince, pyrone, recoin, recopy. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Non-fiction 6. Quotations: Speeches 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
