English edit

Etymology edit

From Latin proficiens, present participle of proficere (to go forward, advance, make progress, succeed, be profitable or useful), from pro (forth, forward) + facere (to make, do); see fact.

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

proficient (comparative more proficient, superlative most proficient)

  1. Good at something; skilled; fluent; practiced, especially in relation to a task or skill.
    He was a proficient writer with an interest in human nature.

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Noun edit

proficient (plural proficients)

  1. An expert.
    • 1880, Francis John Bellew, Memoirs of a Griffin; Or, A Cadet's First Year in India, page 202:
      The colonel now addressed me, [] adding, "I hope we shall send you to your regiment up the country quite a proficient, and calculated to reflect credit on your instructors in the Zubberdust Bullumteers."
    • 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 10, in Billy Budd[1], London: Constable & Co.:
      Why not subpoena as well the clerical proficients?

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Latin edit

Verb edit

prōficient

  1. third-person plural future active indicative of prōficiō