proficient
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
- overproficient adjective
- proficiency noun
- proficiently adverb
- proficientness noun
- underproficient adjective
Etymology
Origin of proficient
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin prōficient-, stem of prōficiēns, present participle of prōficere “to advance, make progress,” equivalent to prō- pro- 1 + -ficere, combining form of facere “to make, do”; do, efficient
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.
Roberto Rodríguez, 48, was one of the most proficient dancers.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2026
One major consequence of the last four years of war is that Ukraine and Russia are now the most experienced and proficient practitioners of drone warfare in the world.
From BBC • Feb. 24, 2026
Film critic Elaine Mancini once described Duvall as "the most technically proficient, the most versatile, and the most convincing actor on the screen in the United States."
From Barron's • Feb. 16, 2026
The top-scoring school was a Success Academy charter school in the Bronx, where the student-body poverty rate is 90% and 94% of students scored proficient in third-grade reading in 2024.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 3, 2026
It often involved solving practical problems or making something new, and that appealed to her considerable and burgeoning intellectual curiosity—a curiosity that had already made her an unusually proficient student at school, scholarly even.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
