proficient

adjective

pro·​fi·​cient prə-ˈfi-shənt 

: able to do something to a higher than average standard : skilled

proficient in English/math

proficient with computers

reads at a proficient level

a team of technically proficient players

The audition process is intense. Rockettes must be proficient in ballet, tap, and jazz.

—Melinda Farrell

proficient noun

plural proficients

proficiently adverb

Did you know?

If you are proficient or adept at something you are skillful—perhaps even expert. Proficient, adept, skillful, and expert are all synonyms, but subtle differences can be discerned between these terms as well. Proficient usually describes pure ability that comes from training and practice ("a proficient writer"). Adept suggests an innate ability as well as a learned skill ("an adept card player"). Skillful suggests being very able at a particular task ("a skillful surgeon"). Expert suggests having a thorough knowledge of a subject as well as being very skillful at working in it ("expert in the martial arts").

Did you know?

Comparing Efficient, Effective, and Proficient

These three words cover some overlapping territory.

Efficient most often describes what is capable of producing desired results without wasting materials, time, or energy. While the word can be applied to both people and things, it is far more commonly applied to things, such as machines, systems, processes, and organizations. The focus of the word is on how little is wasted or lost while the desired results are produced.

Effective typically describes things—such as policies, treatments, arguments, and techniques—that do what they are intended to do. People can also be described as effective when they accomplish what they set out to accomplish, but the word is far more often applied to things.

Proficient typically describes people, and it often is followed by the preposition at. If you are proficient at something, you are very good at it. You are, in fact, so good at doing it that you are unusually efficient when you do it. One can also be proficient in something, such as a language.

Synonyms

• accomplished
• ace
• adept
• compleat
• complete
• consummate
• crack
• crackerjack
• educated
• experienced
• expert
• good
• great
• master
• masterful
• masterly
• practiced
• practised
• professed
• skilled
• skillful
• versed
• veteran
• virtuoso

Choose the Right Synonym for proficient

proficient, adept, skilled, skillful, expert mean having great knowledge and experience in a trade or profession.

proficient implies a thorough competence derived from training and practice.

proficient in translating foreign languages

adept implies special aptitude as well as proficiency.

adept at doing long division

skilled stresses mastery of technique.

a skilled surgeon

skillful implies individual dexterity in execution or performance.

skillful drivers

expert implies extraordinary proficiency and often connotes knowledge as well as technical skill.

expert in the evaluation of wines

Examples of proficient in a Sentence

With this system, a large pool of teachers are asked to identify students they believe are proficient in a given subject; those students are then tested, and their grades stand as the proficiency range. —Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker, 15 Sept. 2003

Dr. Pascual-Leone recruited 15 proficient Braille readers and wired them up so he could measure their somatosensory cortex—the part of the brain that registers and processes the sense of touch. —Sharon Begley, Wall Street Journal, 11 Oct. 2002

Become proficient at lag putting and you may make a few. —Dave Pelz, Golf Magazine, July 1996

He has become very proficient at computer programming.

She is proficient in two foreign languages.

Recent Examples on the Web

The diffuser and flyaway tamers were both proficient in controlling strands gone awry and helped dry our hair evenly. —Alyssa Brascia, People.com, 11 Dec. 2024

Any proficient software developer or AI specialist would right away be suspicious that the simplest of entries is causing lengthy latency. —Lance Eliot, Forbes, 8 Dec. 2024

Prickly in tone but delivered in a comforting perpetual motion, Robber Robber’s hypnotic indie rock could make even the most proficient jam bands envious. —Madison Bloom, Pitchfork, 4 Dec. 2024

Deer are proficient jumpers so a 4-foot-tall chain-link fence won’t do the trick. —Luke Miller, Better Homes & Gardens, 29 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin proficient-, proficiens, present participle of proficere to go forward, accomplish, from pro- forward + facere to make — more at pro-, do

First Known Use

circa 1593, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

proficient

adjective

pro·​fi·​cient prə-ˈfish-ənt 

: very good at doing something especially through practice

proficiently adverb