competently
Americanadverb
-
well or with sufficient skill, knowledge, experience, etc..
Everything was done professionally and very competently.
-
adequately but not exceptionally.
The piece is competently performed, but no more.
Other Word Forms
- noncompetently adverb
- uncompetently adverb
Etymology
Origin of competently
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In a press release issued Friday, Wilson said the company’s transition announcement was a “tremendous failure by the Board to competently plan for the future and manage an effective succession process.”
From Barron's • Dec. 13, 2025
“Beneficiaries of an estate can ask to remove a personal representative when they have demonstrated that they cannot competently manage estate affairs,” according to the Martin Law Office LLC.
From MarketWatch • Oct. 23, 2025
“What the voters are looking for,” he told a TV interviewer, “is someone who can run the government competently, who understands their problems and will tell the truth. We’re not dealing with ideologies this year.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 31, 2024
Nevertheless, it was tough to stifle my irritation at watching the cast stride through a competently drawn video game.
From Salon • Feb. 22, 2024
Colonel Cathcart transferred a round glass paperweight competently from the right edge of his desk to the left edge and picked up a sharpened pencil.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
