GeezerVison

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French qualification in the 1540s, which in turn derives from Medieval Latin quālificātiō. By surface analysis, qual(ify) +‎ -ification.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkwɒlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

qualification (countable and uncountable, plural qualifications)

The act or process of (someone or something) qualifying for a position, use, achievement, etc. [from 16th c.]
Qualification for this organization is extraordinarily difficult. [It is challenging for people to meet all the criteria.]

Qualification of these component parts is extraordinarily difficult. [It is challenging for people to verify all aspects of the quality of the components.]
The state (condition) that such an act or process produces, or a token that represents and attests to that state (such as a document, a certificate, or a data point inside a database).
This method is a valid basis for component part qualification under standards such as SAE AMS 7032.

Does this batch of components have qualification yet?

What are your qualifications for this job? [subsumes both subsenses below]
1. An ability or attribute that aids someone's chances of qualifying for something, such as personal capabilities via talents, aptitudes, skills, knowledge, and experience. [from 17th c.]
2. A certificate, certification, license, licensure, diploma, or degree awarded after successful completion of a course, training, or exam.
The act or process of identifying and defining the nature of something.
Coordinate term: quantification

Before we can even talk about quantification of a phenomenon, we need to establish enough qualification of it to measure it (at all).
A clause or condition which qualifies something: a modification that limits the scope, definition, etc. [from 16th c.]
Near-synonyms: limitation, asterisk

I accept your offer, but with the following qualification.

I accept your explanation of the workflow as true, but I would just like to qualify it a bit. The qualification is that local laws may in some cases dictate which option is chosen in step 14.
- 1937, Oma Stanley, “III. The Consonants”, in The Speech of East Texas (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 2), New York: Columbia University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § 7, page 63:
  Before a vowel (as in rib, brake) r is usually pronounced as a fricative consonant by all groups of speakers. But the qualification 'usually' is necessary, for the Negroes tend to weaken r after a consonant; and they omit it, as do illiterate white speakers, in throat, throw, through.
(obsolete) A quality or attribute. [17th–19th c.]
- 1714, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees:
  To shew, that these Qualfications, which we all pretend to be asham'd of, are the great support of a flourishing Society has been the subject of the foregoing Poem.