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.
As one government source said: "People want to see us handle the foreign stuff competently but it's not really what people care about - they only vote on foreign affairs grounds in genuinely exceptional circumstances."
From BBC • Jan. 10, 2026
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
Returning director Dan Trachtenberg hits the beats competently but not too stridently, like a good superfan should.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 12, 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
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.
