# qualify

Pronunciation: US say "KWAH-luh-fy" /ˈkwɑləfaɪ/; say "KWOL-i-fy" UK /ˈkwɒl.ɪ.faɪ/, AUS /ˈkwɔl.ɪ.fɑe/

## Verb

1. To fall under a category or description by meeting the necessary conditions.
   - Simple: To count as a certain type because all the needed conditions are met.
   - _With ten employees, the business qualifies as a small enterprise under federal rules._
   - _Storms must reach sustained winds of 74 miles per hour to qualify as hurricanes._
2. To make someone competent or eligible for a position or task, or to become competent or eligible oneself.
   - Simple: To make someone fit for a job or task, or to become fit for one.
   - _His degree in accounting qualifies him for the controller position._
   - _After three years of apprenticeship, electricians qualify to work without supervision._
3. To modify, limit, or moderate a statement, especially by adding conditions that must hold for it to be true.
   - Simple: To make a statement less strong by adding limits or conditions to it.
   - _The senator qualified her support for the bill, citing concerns about its cost._
   - _Careful writers qualify sweeping claims with words like 'often' or 'in most cases.'_
4. To compete successfully in one stage of a competition, earning a place in the next stage.
   - Simple: To do well enough in one round of a contest to move on to the next round.
   - _Sixteen nations qualify for the tournament through regional playoffs._
   - _The sprinter qualified for the Olympic final with the third-fastest time in her heat._
5. To certify or license someone to perform a particular role or activity.
   - Simple: To officially approve someone to do a certain kind of work.
   - _The medical board qualifies physicians to practice in the state after they pass the licensing exam._
   - _The agency must qualify each inspector before assigning them to a job site._
6. To describe or characterize something by stating the qualities it possesses.
   - Simple: To describe what something is like by naming its qualities.
   - _Reviewers qualified the proposal as ambitious but underfunded._
   - _Historians often qualify the period as one of rapid, uneven change._
7. To give a distinctive quality to something; to modulate, vary, or regulate it.
   - Simple: To give something its own character, or to change and adjust it.
   - _A skilled organist qualifies each note's attack to suit the acoustics of the hall._
   - _Painters qualify their colors with thin glazes, shifting tone without losing form._
8. In juggling, to throw and catch each prop at least twice during a run.
   - Simple: To throw and catch each thing you are juggling at least two times.
   - _Jugglers typically qualify four balls long before they manage four clubs._
   - _She qualified seven rings at the festival, a personal best._

## Noun

9. In juggling, a run in which each prop is thrown and caught at least twice.
   - Simple: A juggling run where each object is thrown and caught at least two times.
   - _A ten-catch run with five balls counts as a qualify._
   - _The festival logbook recorded dozens of qualifies with seven rings._

## Verb

10. To mitigate or alleviate something; to make it less harsh or disagreeable. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To make something painful or unpleasant easier to bear.
   - _The physician mixed wine with the draft to qualify its harshness._
   - _Time, the old letters suggest, had qualified her sorrow but not erased it._

## Origin

Borrowed from Middle French "qualifier" ("to qualify"), and equivalent to "quality" plus the suffix "-fy."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/qualify (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).