proficient
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
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /pɹəˈfɪʃ.ənt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /pɹoʊˈfɪʃ.ənt/, /pɹəˈfɪʃ.ənt/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪʃənt
Adjective edit
proficient (comparative more proficient, superlative most proficient)
- 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.
- 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:
- By constant playing and experimenting with these he learned to tie rude knots, and make sliding nooses; and with these he and the younger apes amused themselves. What Tarzan did they tried to do also, but he alone originated and became proficient.
Synonyms edit
Translations edit
skilled
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Noun edit
proficient (plural proficients)
- 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?
Synonyms edit
- (expert): expert; see also Thesaurus:skilled person
Translations edit
expert
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Related terms edit
Further reading edit
- “proficient”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “proficient”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Latin edit
Verb edit
prōficient