qualification
(ˌkwɒlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən)
[ad. med.L. quālificātio, n. of action from quālificāre: see qualify and -ation, and cf. F. qualification (1573 in Godef. Compl.).]
The action of qualifying; the condition or fact of being qualified; that which qualifies.
1. Modification, limitation, restriction; a modifying or limiting element or circumstance.
| 1543–4 Act 35 Hen. VIII, c. 5 (Title) An acte concerning the qualification of the statute of the syxe articles. 1651 Baxter Inf. Bapt. 190 There can be no true closing with Christ in a promise that hath a qualification or condition expressed. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. i. iv, The removal or qualification of pleasure has no resemblance to positive pain. 1845 Encycl. Metrop. X. 776 There is however some qualification to be admitted in this general statement. 1891 Law Times Rep. LXIII. 765/1 The defendants were liable as principals, as they had contracted in their own names without any qualification. |
† 2. The determining or distinctive quality of a person or thing; condition, character, nature. Obs.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. i. 282 Out of that will I cause these of Cyprus to Mutiny. Whose qualification shall come into no true taste againe, but by the displanting of Cassio. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xii. §11 The commissioners..notwithstanding their qualification..were imprisoned by the Parliament. 1745 De Foe's Eng. Tradesman Introd. (1841) I. 3 Having thus described..the English Tradesman, it is needful to inquire into his qualification. |
† 3. a. A quality, attribute, or property (of). Obs.
| 1669 Gale Crt. Gentiles i. iii. x. 107 Plato laies down as qualifications of true Oratorie [etc.]. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 435 ¶7 Liveliness and Assurance are..the Qualifications of the French Nation. 1719 London & Wise Compl. Gard. 118 The useless Branches, whether it be because they are worn or spent, or because they have no good Qualifications. 1799 I. Milner in Life xi. §18 (1842) 194 Whatever may be their views of justifying faith, that is, whether they think it consists in qualifications or in appropriation. |
b. An accomplishment. Obs.
| 1715 Sir J. Clerk Mem. (1895) 87, I thought it would be an additional Qualification to him that he understood the English Language. 1785 Paley Mor. Philos. (1818) I. 70 The pleasures of grown persons..founded like music, painting, &c. upon any qualification of their own acquiring. 1796 Jane Austen Sense & Sens. (1849) 161 Every qualification is raised at times..to more than its real value; and she was sometimes worried down..to rate good-breeding as more indispensable to comfort than good-nature. |
† 4. The action of qualifying, or process of being qualified (for a position, etc.); also, the result of this action or process. Obs.
| 1589–92 in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844) 535 Being informit of the qualification, literature, and gude conversation of..N. 1659 Pearson Creed (1839) 308 The death of Christ [was] necessary..in reference to the Priest himself..both in regard of the qualification of himself, and consummation of his office. 1665 Bunyan Holy Citie 6, I must speak a word or two concerning John's qualification, whereby he was enabled to behold..this City. |
5. a. A quality, accomplishment, etc., which qualifies or fits a person for some office or function.
| 1669 Dk. York in Pepys' Diary (1879) VI. 111 Besides his general qualifications for that trust. 1765 Foote Commissary i. Wks. 1799 II. 15 A qualification for a canon of Strasbourg. 1779 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 276 Even a failure in it [law] stands almost as a sort of qualification for other things. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 242 This vehement hatred of Popery was..the first of all qualifications for command. 1873 Hamerton Intell. Life i. vii. (1875) 37 Even to taste and smell properly, are most important qualifications for the pursuit of literature, art, and science. |
b. absol.
| 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 27 The bishops are still in law the judges of the qualifications of those who are presented to them. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 37 The preceptor..whatever his other qualifications may have been, had not earned his promotion by his Latin style. 1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal I. i. 29 A sturdy truthfulness was one of her best qualifications. |
6. a. A necessary condition, imposed by law or custom, which must be fulfilled or complied with before a certain right can be acquired or exercised, an office held, or the like.
| 1723 Act of Pennsylvania, Every brewer..shall be qualified by oath..which said qualification shall be taken by all persons who brew..for sale. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. ii. 171 The true reason of requiring any qualification, with regard to property, in voters. 1819 Mackintosh Parl. Suffrage Wks. 1846 III. 215 A representative assembly, elected by a low uniform qualification. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 440 A law which fixes a sum of money as the qualification of citizenship. |
b. A document attesting that a person is qualified.
| 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. xviii, I carry my qualification to the Navy-office. [Ibid., We must deliver our letters of qualification at the Navy-office before one a-clock.] 1789 J. Woodforde Diary 26 Sept. (1927) III. 143 Ben returned by Dinner, brought..a Qualification for my sporting this year for which I am to pay 2 Guineas and 1 Shilling. |
7. The act of determining the quality or nature of a thing; spec. a. The determining whether a book or proposition merits theological censure as heretical. Cf. qualificator.
| 1826 Blackw. Mag. XX. 336 His Catechism and other works were submitted for qualification to Melchior Cano, his denouncer. |
b. Logic. The expression of quality, or the distinction of affirmative and negative, in a proposition. (Cent. Dict. 1891.)
8. attrib. and Comb., as qualification-ticket; qualification shares, shares which one must hold in order to be qualified for a directorship of a company.
| 1797 Sporting Mag. IX. 100 A gentleman..applied..for a qualification-ticket. 1899 Daily News 28 Mar. 8/3 The money had been given on account of that gentleman's qualification shares. |
Hence ˌqualifiˈcationless a., having no qualification.
| 1898 Westm. Gaz. 16 Dec. 8/3 The new Bill evidently contemplated the possibility of qualificationless directors. |
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Add: [1.] b. spec. in Accounting. A modifying statement in an auditor's report that indicates any account items which have been excluded from the examination or about which there is doubt or disagreement; the action of recording such a statement.
| 1916 Incorporated Accountants' Jrnl. XXVII. 133/2 Qualifications often represent an honest difference of opinion between directors and auditors. 1924 Kohler & Pettengill Princ. Auditing (1925) xiv. 161 Insertions in the certificate indicating a limited scope in the examination are called ‘qualifications’. 1954 E. L. Kohler Auditing (ed. 2) xvi. 587 Following are examples of recent additions to short-form reports that express qualifications or disclosures believed necessary for the information of the reader or for the protection of the accountant. 1976 Economist 14 Feb. 79/2 The auditors would not regard a qualification of the accounts as necessary. 1982 Sunday Times 10 Jan. 51/7 Press speculation over possible audit qualifications in the Polly Peck accounts. 1988 Financial Times 12 Feb. 9/8 The recent qualification of the ECGD's accounts for last year by the National Audit Office. |