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non-incompetent

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Adjective

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non-incompetent (not comparable)

  1. (litotes) Synonym of competent.
    Well, these deadlines and quality requirements should be feasible as long as the company is willing to pay for non-incompetent personnel.

Usage notes

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The intentional pleonasm of the prefixes is explained by the theme that this litotic form, like some others (such as nonstupid), implicitly emphasizes the contrast whereby an entity having the positive characteristic stands out among a prevailing norm of ones that lack it.