talented
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of talented
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English: “inclined, disposed”; talent + -ed 3
Explanation
If you're really good at something, you're talented. Both a professional violinist and an amateur singer with a beautiful voice can be called talented musicians. Talented wordsmiths will know that some other ways to say talented include proficient, adept and skilled. This adjective comes from the noun talent, which talented etymologists have traced back to the Greek root talanton, "balance, weight, or sum of money."
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.
There’s no doubt that she’s extremely talented, he told me, but the grocery business is one that leaders usually grow up in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
That makes success in this music tricky, and for whatever reason the immensely talented Mr. Ólafsson and the Philharmonic seemed out of sync, at least figuratively.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Regular starter Hemp, who has played 687 minutes, has scored just twice, while the talented James has not found the back of the net in her past 425 minutes.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
And because Moore is so talented — so uniquely proficient at finding the human depth at the core of all her characters — she can make Mona unforgettable.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
To drum up excitement, Fitzpatrick and Foster tapped talented men to lead—one to solidify support among Johnny Joyce's cattle butchers, another to organize blacks.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
