able
/ˈeɪb(ə)l
/adjective (abler, ablest)
1 [with infinitive] Having the power, skill, means, or opportunity to do something: he was able to read Greek at the age of eight they would never be able to afford such a big house...
- When you add in council tax and other bills we know we wouldn't be able to afford that.
- The morning journey was relaxing and I was able to read a lot that will help me at work.
- Participants do not need to be able to read music or to have sung with a choir before.
Synonyms
allowed to, free to, in a position to;
capable of, qualified to, competent to, equal to, up to, fit to, prepared to
2Having considerable skill, proficiency, or intelligence: the dancers were technically very able...
- Born into a noble family, Neroccio was one of the most able artists of late 15th-century Siena.
- Abler students would do well to supplement Post's book with Bell's ‘Elizabethan Women and Poetry of Courtship’.
- Two of the abler young novelists of the time, Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene, were converts to Roman Catholicism.
Synonyms
intelligent, clever, brilliant, talented, skilful, skilled, accomplished, gifted, masterly, virtuoso, expert;
proficient, apt, good, adroit, adept, qualified, fit, suited, suitable;
capable, competent, efficient, effective
informal genius
Origin
Late Middle English (also in the sense 'easy to use, suitable'): from Old French hable, from Latin habilis 'handy', from habere 'to hold'.
In the past able had the senses ‘easy to use’ and ‘suitable’ as well as the more familiar sense ‘having the qualifications or means’ to do something. It comes from Latin habilis ‘handy’ from habere ‘to hold’. The jargon term abled, as in differently abled was formed in the 1980s from disabled (late 16th century), from able with the negative dis- in front.