qualification

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of qualifying or the condition of being qualified.
• noun A quality, ability, or accomplishment that makes a person suitable for a particular position or task.
• noun A condition or circumstance that must be met or complied with.
• noun A restriction or modification.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of qualifying, or the state of being qualified, by change or modification; specifically, adaptation; fitness.
• noun A quality adapting a person or thing to particular circumstances, uses, or ends.
• noun That which qualifies a person for or renders him admissible to or acceptable for a place, an office, or an employment: any natural or acquired quality, property, or possession which secures a right to exercise any function, privilege, etc.; specifically, legal power or ability: as, the qualifications of an elector.
• noun In logic, the attaching of quality, or the distinction of affirmative and negative, to a term.
• noun A qualifying—that is, partially negativing or extenuating—circumstance; modification; restriction; limitation; allowance; abatement: as, to assert something without any qualification.
• noun Appeasement; pacification.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of qualifying, or the condition of being qualified.
• noun That which qualifies; any natural endowment, or any acquirement, which fits a person for a place, office, or employment, or which enables him to sustian any character with success; an enabling quality or circumstance; requisite capacity or possession.
• noun The act of limiting, or the state of being limited; that which qualifies by limiting; modification; restriction; hence, abatement; diminution.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The act or process of qualifying.
• noun An ability or attribute aiding one's chances of qualifying.
• noun An added condition.
• noun auto racing The process by which racers race against the clock to determine whether they will qualify for a race, and if so in what qualifying position.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a statement that limits or restricts some claim
• noun an attribute that must be met or complied with and that fits a person for something
• noun the act of modifying or changing the strength of some idea