qualify

• POS: Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: qual=i=fy

CIDE DICTIONARY

qualify, v. t. [F. qualifier, LL. qualificare, fr. L. qualis how constituted, as + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See Quality, and -Fy.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "He had qualified himself for municipal office by taking the oaths to the sovereigns in possession."  [1913 Webster]
•  To give individual quality to; to modulate; to vary; to regulate.  [1913 Webster]

  "It hath no larynx . . . to qualify the sound. "  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence, to soften; to abate; to diminish; to assuage; to reduce the strength of, as liquors.  [1913 Webster]

  "I do not seek to quench your love's hot fire,
  But qualify the fire's extreme rage."  [1913 Webster]
•  To soothe; to cure; -- said of persons.  [1913 Webster]

  "In short space he has them qualified."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- To fit; equip; prepare; adapt; capacitate; enable; modify; soften; restrict; restrain; temper.

qualify, v. i. 

•  To be or become qualified; to be fit, as for an office or employment.  [1913 Webster]
•  To obtain legal power or capacity by taking the oath, or complying with the forms required, on assuming an office.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

qualify, v. (-ies, -ied)
1 tr. make competent or fit for a position or purpose.
2 tr. make legally entitled.
3 intr. (foll. by for) (of a person) satisfy the conditions or requirements (for a position, award, competition, etc.).
4 tr. add reservations to; modify or make less absolute (a statement or assertion).
5 tr. Gram. (of a word, esp. an adjective) attribute a quality to another word, esp. a noun.
6 tr. moderate, mitigate; make less severe or extreme.
7 tr. alter the strength or flavour of.
8 tr. (foll. by as) attribute a specified quality to, describe as (the idea was qualified as absurd).
9 tr. (as qualifying adj.) serving to determine those that qualify (qualifying examination).

Derivative

qualifiable adj. qualifier n.

Etymology

F qualifier f. med.L qualificare f. L qualis such as

THESAURUS

qualify

abate, accommodate, adapt, adjust, adjust to, alter, ameliorate, answer, ascribe, assign, assuage, attribute, attune, authorize, avail, be OK, be blooded, be equal to, be successful, bear, better, bound, box, box in, box up, break up, capacitate, catch on, certify, change, check out, circumscribe, click, come off, condition, confine, connect, contain, convert, copyright, cramp, deform, denature, diminish, discipline, distinguish, diversify, do, do it, do the job, draw the line, enable, equip, farewell, fill the bill, fit, fit out, fulfill, furnish, get by, go, go around, go great guns, go off, go over, go over big, go to town, graduate, hack it, have the qualifications, hedge, hedge about, hem, hem in, hold, improve, impute, individualize, individuate, just do, keep from spreading, keep within bounds, leaven, limit, localize, make a hit, make reservations, make the grade, mark, measure up, meet, meet requirements, meet with success, meliorate, mitigate, moderate, modify, modulate, mutate, narrow, overthrow, palliate, pass, pass muster, patent, predicate, prepare, prevail, prosper, put in trim, put in tune, re-create, reach, ready, realign, rebuild, reconstruct, redesign, reduce, refit, reform, register, regulate by, relate, remake, renew, reshape, restrain, restrict, restructure, revamp, revive, ring the changes, satisfy, scant, season, serve, serve the purpose, set conditions, set limits, set terms, shift the scene, shuffle the cards, signalize, soften, specialize, specifically provide, stand, stand up, stint, stipulate, stipulate for, straiten, stretch, subvert, succeed, suffice, suit, take, take it, temper, tighten, tune, turn the scale, turn the tables, turn the tide, turn upside down, vary, work, work a change, work well, work wonders, worsen

ROGET THESAURUS

qualify

Change

VB change, alter, vary, wax and wane, modulate, diversify, qualify, tamper with, turn, shift, veer, tack, chop, shuffle, swerve, warp, deviate, turn aside, evert, intervert, pass to, take a turn, turn the corner, resume, work a change, modify, vamp, superinduce, transform, transfigure, transmute, transmogrify, transume, metamorphose, ring the changes, innovate, introduce new blood, shuffle the cards, give a turn to, give a color to, influence, turn the scale, shift the scene, turn over a new leaf, recast, reverse, disturb, convert into.

Qualification

VB qualify, limit, modify, leaven, give a color to, introduce new conditions, narrow, temper, waffle, quibble, hem and haw (be uncertain), equivocate (sophistry), depend, depend on, be contingent on (effect), allow for, make allowance for, admit exceptions, take into account, modulate, moderate, temper, season, leaven, take exception.

Negation

VB deny, contradict, contravene, controvert, give denial to, gainsay, negative, shake the head, disown, disaffirm, disclaim, disavow, recant, revoke, dispute, impugn, traverse, rebut, join issue upon, bring in question, call in question, give the lie in his throat, give one the lie in his throat, deny flatly, deny peremptorily, deny emphatically, deny absolutely, deny wholly, deny entirely, give the lie to, belie, repudiate, set aside, ignore, rebut, qualify, refuse, recuse.

Teaching

VB teach, instruct, educate, edify, school, tutor, cram, prime, coach, enlighten, inculcate, indoctrinate, inoculate, infuse, instill, infix, ingraft, infiltrate, imbue, impregnate, implant, graft, sow the seeds of, disseminate, given an idea of, put up to, put in the way of, set right, sharpen the wits, enlarge the mind, give new ideas, open the eyes, bring forward, teach the young idea how to shoot, improve, expound, lecture, read a lesson, give a lesson, give a lecture, give a sermon, give a discourse, incept, hold forth, preach, sermonize, moralize, point a moral, train, discipline, bring up, bring up to, form, ground, prepare, qualify, drill, exercise, practice, habituate, familiarize with, nurture, drynurse, breed, rear, take in hand, break, break in, tame, preinstruct, initiate, inure, put to nurse, send to school, direct, guide, direct attention to, impress upon the mind, impress upon the memory, beat into, beat into the head, convince, book, workbook, exercise book, preach to the wise, teach one's grandmother to suck eggs, teach granny to suck eggs, preach to the converted.