Noun

(en noun)

One who is eligible.

* {{quote-news, year=2007, date=October 3, author=Diane Ravitch, title=Get Congress Out of the Classroom, work=New York Times citation

, passage=Federal agencies report that only about 1 percent of eligible students take advantage of switching schools and fewer than 20 percent of eligibles receive extra tutoring.}}

Noun

(uncountable) The quality or state of being competent, i.e. able or suitable for a general role.

* 2005 , Lies Sercu and Ewa Bandura, Foreign Language Teachers and Intercultural Competence: An International Investigation :

Teachers are now required to teach intercultural communicative competence .

(countable) The quality or state of being able or suitable for a particular task; the quality or state of being competent for a particular task.

* 1961 , National Council for Elementary Science (U.S.), Science Education :

What professional competences do science teachers need?

A sustainable income.

* Alexander Pope

Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, / Lie in three words — health, peace, and competence .

* 1811 , Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility , chapter 17

“money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to give it. Beyond a competence , it can afford no real satisfaction, as far as mere self is concerned.”

(countable) In law, the legal authority to deal with a matter.

That question is out with the competence of this court and must be taken to a higher court.