Origin: Latin suffix -ify
Qualify has 9 different meanings across 1 category:
An instance of throwing and catching each prop at least twice.
"The team qualified by successfully throwing and catching each prop at least twice during the practice session."
In plain English: A qualification is an official certificate showing you have learned enough to do a job or go to college.
"The job posting requires specific qualifications that she did not meet."
prove capable or fit; meet requirements
"She studied hard to qualify as a licensed physician."
pronounce fit or able
"She was qualified to run the marathon"
"They nurses were qualified to administer the injections"
describe or portray the character or the qualities or peculiarities of
"You can characterize his behavior as that of an egotist"
"This poem can be characterized as a lament for a dead lover"
To describe or characterize something by listing its qualities.
"The review qualifies the new smartphone as a device that is both powerful and compact."
In plain English: To qualify means to meet all the necessary requirements for something, such as getting into college or playing on a team.
"You need to pass three exams before you qualify for medical school."
Usage: Use qualify to mean describing someone's character through specific traits, such as noting that a leader qualifies their decisions with caution. Avoid confusing this descriptive sense with the more common meaning of meeting requirements or improving one's status.
The word qualify entered English from the Middle French verb qualifier, which literally means "to make qualified." It is formed by combining the root for quality with a suffix that indicates making something so.