qualified

Qualified is an adjective and the past participle of qualify. In general use, it denotes having the necessary credentials, training, or experience to perform a task. A qualified professional has met established standards or licenses recognized by an authority. The term also signals restriction or limitation: a qualified statement or a qualified endorsement implies caveats rather than unconditional support.

As a verb, qualify means to meet standards (to qualify for a benefit) or to modify a claim by adding conditions or exceptions. The related noun qualification refers to credentials (for example, degrees, licenses) or to the act of meeting criteria.

Etymology: from Latin qualis “of what kind” via Old French qualifier into English. The term has long been used across education, professional fields, and law.

In legal and policy language, qualified appears in phrases such as qualified immunity, which shields officials from some claims, and qualified privilege, which protects certain communications unless malice is shown. In voting and governance, a qualified majority describes a threshold below a simple majority but above a simple tie-breaking rule.

There is an interplay among senses: you can be a qualified applicant, a qualified success (not absolute), or to qualify a statement (to limit or clarify). Related terms include qualification, qualifier, qualify, and unqualified.