qualify Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb prove capable or fit; meet requirements
    measure up.
  2. verb pronounce fit or able
    • She was qualified to run the marathon
    • They nurses were qualified to administer the injections
  3. verb make more specific
    restrict.
    • qualify these remarks
  4. verb make fit or prepared
    dispose.
    • Your education qualifies you for this job
  5. verb specify as a condition or requirement in a contract or agreement; make an express demand or provision in an agreement
    specify; condition; stipulate.
    • The will stipulates that she can live in the house for the rest of her life
    • The contract stipulates the dates of the payments
  6. verb describe or portray the character or the qualities or peculiarities of
    characterize; characterise.
    • You can characterize his behavior as that of an egotist
    • This poem can be characterized as a lament for a dead lover
  7. verb add a modifier to a constituent
    modify.

WordNet

Qual"i*fy transitive verb
Etymology
F. qualifier, LL. qualificare, fr. L. qualis how constituted, as + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See Quality, and -Fy.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Qualified ; present participle & verbal noun Qualifying
Definitions
  1. To make such as is required; to give added or requisite qualities to; to fit, as for a place, office, occupation, or character; to furnish with the knowledge, skill, or other accomplishment necessary for a purpose; to make capable, as of an employment or privilege; to supply with legal power or capacity.
    He had qualified himself for municipal office by taking the oaths to the sovereigns in possession. Macaulay.
  2. To give individual quality to; to modulate; to vary; to regulate.
    It hath no larynx . . . to qualify the sound. Sir T. Browne.
  3. To reduce from a general, undefined, or comprehensive form, to particular or restricted form; to modify; to limit; to restrict; to restrain; as, to qualify a statement, claim, or proposition.
  4. Hence, to soften; to abate; to diminish; to assuage; to reduce the strength of, as liquors.
    I do not seek to quench your love's hot fire, But qualify the fire's extreme rage. Shak.
  5. To soothe; to cure; -- said of persons. Obs.
    In short space he has them qualified. Spenser.
    Syn. -- To fit; equip; prepare; adapt; capacitate; enable; modify; soften; restrict; restrain; temper.
Qual"i*fy intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To be or become qualified; to be fit, as for an office or employment.
  2. To obtain legal power or capacity by taking the oath, or complying with the forms required, on assuming an office.

Webster 1913