abled
Americanadjective
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noting or relating to a person unaffected by physical, mental, or cognitive impairment; nondisabled.
I don’t think abled folks realize how inaccessible basic infrastructure is.
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Rare. noting or relating to a disabled person who uses assistive technology or accommodations that make education, jobs, or other activities accessible to them.
Teachers and institutions need to understand that if tools are provided to children with disabilities, they will become abled individuals in society.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of abled
First recorded in 1945–50; back formation from disabled ( def. )
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.
Mr. Charles’s interest in alternatively abled people, or people who can do special things, that interest has long tentacles.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026
He thinks he lacks something that will make him whole, that will make him abled.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2025
She said she wanted to help those who were "financially excluded or differently abled".
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2024
The norm that every abled person receiving cash payments should be seeking a job can also be challenged.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 6, 2023
It may easily be conceived how "sufficiencies" was, by an inarticulate speaker, or inattentive hearer, confounded with "sufficiency as", and how "abled", a word very unusual, was changed into "able".
From Preface to Shakespeare by Samuel Johnson
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.
