Other forms: qualifications
A qualification is the proof that you are allowed or able to do something — the certificate, degree or licence with your name on it. A nursing degree, a teaching diploma, the coaching badge that lets you run the under-elevens.
You gain, hold or lack qualifications, and on a CV they get a section of their own. The word also covers the reaching of a required standard: qualification for the World Cup, qualification as a solicitor. Then there is the argument sense, which catches people out — a qualification is a condition added to a statement to narrow it. He agreed, with one qualification: the money had to come from somewhere else. To accept something without qualification is to accept it whole, with no small print.
1nounqualificationAn official record of passing an exam or course, or a skill or experience that makes somebody suitable for a job.~64%
“The job asks for a first aid qualification and two years on a building site.”
synonyms: credential, certificate
2nounaddedSomething added to a statement that limits it or makes it less absolute.~5%
“She praised the plan, with the qualification that it would cost twice the estimate.”
3nounactThe act of reaching the standard needed to enter a competition or a profession.~31%
“A draw on Tuesday would be enough for qualification.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 36 sentences found in the wild and placed 36 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
qualification is an official proof of ability.
Qualification was borrowed from Middle French in the 1540s, and the French had it from Medieval Latin quālificātiō. It belongs to the same family as the verb qualify. Both senses sit comfortably in that Latin word, since stating what kind of thing something is can either prove it good enough or cut it down to size.
Medieval Latin
quālificātiō
Middle French
qualification
English, today
qualification
Borrowed from Middle French qualification in the 1540s, which in turn derives from Medieval Latin quālificātiō. by surface analysis, qual(ify) + -ification.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA