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Interchangeable vs Competent - What's the difference?

interchangeable | competent |

As adjectives the difference between interchangeable and competent

is that interchangeable is freely substitutable. May be swapped at will while competent is having sufficient skill, knowledge, ability, or qualifications.

interchangeable

English

Adjective

(-)
  • Freely substitutable. May be swapped at will.
  • Eli Whitney's development of interchangeable parts was a breakthrough for modern manufacturing. Prior to that each part had to be made custom.
  • * 2014 , Ian Jack, " Is this the end of Britishness", The Guardian , 16 September 2014:
  • The English, until relatively recently, seem to have imagined “English” and “British” to be interchangeable , as if Britain was just a bigger England.

    Derived terms

    * interchangeably

    competent

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having sufficient skill, knowledge, ability, or qualifications.
  • He is a competent skier and an expert snowboarder.
  • (legal) Having jurisdiction or authority over a particular issue or question.
  • For any disagreements arising from this contract, the competent court shall be the Springfield Circuit Court.
    judicial authority having competent jurisdiction
  • Adequate for the purpose
  • * 1662 , , Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 67:
  • "For if [birds] had been Viviparous , the burthen of their womb, if they had brought forth any competent number at a time, had been so big and heavy, that their wings would have failed them "

    Quotations

    * "I believe in that myself because it has been explained by competent men as the convolutions of the grey matter." - James Joyce, Ulysses , 1922 * "That as a competent keyless citizen he had proceeded energetically from the unknown to the known through the incertitude of the void." - James Joyce, Ulysses , 1922