capable
Americanadjective
idioms
adjective
-
having ability, esp in many different fields; competent
-
able or having the skill (to do something)
she is capable of hard work
-
having the temperament or inclination (to do something)
he seemed capable of murder
Related Words
See able.
Other Word Forms
- capableness noun
- capably adverb
- overcapable adjective
- quasi-capable adjective
- quasi-capably adverb
- supercapable adjective
- supercapableness noun
- supercapably adverb
Etymology
Origin of capable
First recorded in 1555–65; from Late Latin capābilis “intelligent, understandable,” apparently equivalent to cap(āx) “competent, fit, roomy” ( capacity ) + -ābilis able
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Burnaby was tall—6 feet 4 inches—and many said he was the strongest man in the British Army, capable of carrying a pony under each arm.
The stars of the show become more than the performers, who are all capable of spectacle, but also Basil Twist, he of the puppetry and fantastical sets, and choreographer Ann Yee.
From Los Angeles Times
Quantum computing is often described as a future technology capable of handling problems that traditional computers cannot touch.
From Science Daily
This produced a material capable of both high energy density and high power density, a combination that is rarely achieved in a single device.
From Science Daily
It requires a model capable of generalizing or learning to reason, rather than pattern matching.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
