proficiency
Americannoun
-
proficiencies
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of proficiency
First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin prōfici(ēns) “advancing” ( see proficient) + -ency
Explanation
If you have proficiency with something, you are pretty good at it. If you have proficiency with Spanish, you can understand and communicate well in that language. Proficiency, pronounced "pro-FISH-en-cee," comes from the Latin word proficere, meaning "accomplish, make progress, be useful." If you have achieved proficiency in something, you have done well at gaining a skill. However, having proficiency doesn't make you an expert. Still, proficiency is something to be proud of — it means you have worked hard, and if you keep going, you probably will become an expert.
Vocabulary lists containing proficiency
Power Prefix: pro
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"A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift
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Twelve Years a Slave
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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.
See Examples For:
One reason is that HP, Dell and other PC manufacturers are souping up the computers and selling them on their proficiency with on-device AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
The students make progress toward nearing proficiency during elementary and middle school.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Meanwhile, 75% of the 1,881 UK jobseekers polled in July by recruiter Gi Group say they would not be put off applying to an organisation that had introduced AI proficiency into individual performance reviews.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Spinning that lore for a modern audience, then, calls for fronting the cast with a star whose popular persona is outsized compared to his dramatic proficiency.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
In those days, I believed that proficiency in English and success in business were the direct result of high academic achievements and I assumed as a matter of course that Sisulu was a university graduate.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Most of the proficiencies required can be gained through further education.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 27, 2023
My language proficiencies overcome those barriers and I have tried to help people who have no idea what to do once they land here.
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2022
I sometimes looked in vain for stacks of books along the walls that weren’t didactically aligned with state-ordained, “testable” proficiencies.
From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2021
Beyoncé’s proficiencies include the art of publicity, and her messaging is as precise as her melisma.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 18, 2019
The peculiar proficiencies of great epochs are as astonishing as the exploits of individual frenzy.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864 by Various
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.
