qualify

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qualify

  • /ˈkwɒl.ɪ.faɪ/ UK
  • /ˈkwɑ.lɪ.faɪ/ US, dialectal
  • /ˈkwɑ.lə.faɪ/ US, dialectal
  • /ˈkwɒl.ɪ.faɪ/ Canada, dialectal
  • /ˈkwɔl.ɪ.fɑe/ Australia
  • /ˈkwɒl.ə.faɪ/ New Zealand
  • [ˈkwɔ̟l.ə.fɑe̯] New Zealand
  • /ˈkwæl.ɪ.faɪ/ obsolete

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Middle French qualifier (“to qualify”). Equivalent to quality + -fy.

verb qualifies · qualifying · qualified

  1. transitive To describe or characterize something by listing its qualities.
  2. intransitive To successfully fall under some category or description by meeting requisite conditions. Descartes's methodism with its regulative criterion leads him to explicitly deny that accidentally true belief qualifies as knowledge.
  3. transitive To make someone competent or eligible for some position or task. They usually spoke of this connection as a longing for the purer life of Attic civilization, but that was a delusion which even they recognized — the position of slaves and women hardly qualified Classical antiquity as an ideal of freedom.
  4. intransitive, reflexive To become competent or eligible for some position or task. He had qualified himself for municipal office by taking the oaths to the sovereigns in possession.
  5. transitive To certify or license someone for something.
  6. transitive To modify, limit, restrict or moderate something; especially to add conditions or requirements for an assertion to be true. O! never say that I was false of heart, Though absence seem'd my flame to qualify
  7. archaic, transitive To mitigate, alleviate (something); to make less disagreeable. he balmes and herbes thereto applyde, / And euermore with mighty spels them charmd, / That in short space he has them qualifyde, / And him restor'd to health, that would haue algates dyde.
  8. intransitive To compete successfully in some stage of a competition and become eligible for the next stage.
  9. transitive To give individual quality to; to modulate; to vary; to regulate. It hath no larynx […] to qualify the sound.
  10. transitive To throw and catch each object at least twice. to qualify seven balls you need at least fourteen catches

Opposite: disqualify, unqualify

noun

  1. An instance of throwing and catching each prop at least twice.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: specify, modify, stipulate, characterize, measure up, condition, restrict, dispose, qualification, designate, eligible, eligibility, entitle, define, denote, admissibility

verb

Opposite: disqualify, unqualify

Translations

Every language

verb to describe or characterize something by listing its qualities

Españolcalificar
Kiswahilifuzu
Françaiscaractériser, qualifier, définir
Русскийквалифици́ровать kvalificírovatʹ

verb to make someone, or to become competent or eligible for some position or task

Españolcapacitar, poder obtener, tener derecho a, darle derecho a, expertizar
Kiswahilifuzu
Françaisqualifier
Deutschqualifizieren, sich qualifizieren
Русскийгото́вить gotóvitʹ

verb to certify or license someone for something

Españolcualificar
Kiswahilifuzu
Françaisqualifier
Deutschqualifizieren
Русскийаттестова́ть attestovátʹ

verb to modify, limit, restrict or moderate something

Españolpuntualizar, acotar
Kiswahilifuzu
Русскийуточня́ть utočnjátʹ, ограни́чивать ograníčivatʹ

verb to compete successfully in some stage of a competition and become eligible for the next stage

Españolclasificar, cualificar
日本語勝ち上がる kachi-agaru, 勝ち進む kachi-susumu
Kiswahilifuzu
Portuguêsclassificar, qualificar
Françaisse qualifier
Русскийквалифицироваться kvalificirovatʹsja
Tiếng Việtvượt qua vòng loại

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Cite this
MLA

"qualify." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/qualify. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

qualify. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/qualify

Chicago

"qualify." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/qualify.

BibTeX
@misc{qualify_2026,
  title = {qualify},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/qualify},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}