communicative competence

noun

A language user's grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology and the like, as well as social knowledge about how and when to use utterances appropriately.

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Meanings

nouncommunicative competence (countable and uncountable, plural communicative competences)

plural communicative competences

  1. countableuncountablehuman sciencesA language user's grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology and the like, as well as social knowledge about how and when to use utterances appropriately.

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 交際能力 /交际能力
  • 交際能力 /交际能力 (jiāojì nénglì)language user's knowledge
Finnish kommunikaatiokyky
  • kommunikaatiokykylanguage user's knowledge
Portuguese competência comunicativa
  • competência comunicativalanguage user's knowledge
Ukrainian комунікати́вна компете́нтність
  • комунікати́вна компете́нтність (komunikatývna kompeténtnistʹ)language user's knowledge
Cite this entry
APA

communicative competence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/communicative%20competence

MLA

“communicative competence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/communicative%20competence. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “communicative competence,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/communicative%20competence.

Source: communicative competence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.