multi-skilled

Meaning

1. 1adjectivebefore a nounapproving

   Able to do several different kinds of work or tasks well, rather than one narrow job.

   Grammar: Often placed before a noun (a multi-skilled worker) but can also follow a linking verb (she is multi-skilled).

   Patterns

   • a multi-skilled person
   • be multi-skilled

   The café hired a multi-skilled employee who could cook, serve and manage the till.

   Small teams need multi-skilled members because nobody can specialise.

   He became multi-skilled by working in every department of the factory.

Common combinations

multi-skilled team

A multi-skilled team can cover for absent colleagues easily.

multi-skilled worker

The company prefers a multi-skilled worker to a narrow specialist.

highly multi-skilled

The crew is highly multi-skilled, with each person trained on three machines.

multi-skilled engineer

They advertised for a multi-skilled engineer to maintain the plant.

become multi-skilled

Apprentices become multi-skilled after two years of rotation.

Synonyms and how they differ

versatile

Versatile can describe people or things and stresses flexibility, while multi-skilled is mainly about a person's trained abilities.

all-round

All-round suggests a person who is good at many aspects of one field, whereas multi-skilled can cross different fields.

multi-talented

Multi-talented implies natural gifts, often artistic, while multi-skilled implies learned job abilities.

Opposites

Word family

skill noun

an ability gained through training or practice

skilled adjective

having a skill

multiskilling noun

training workers to do several jobs

multitask verb

to do several things at once

Commonly confused: multi-skilled or multi-talented?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “multi-skilled”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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