able
[ey-buh l]
- having necessary power, skill, resources, or qualifications; qualified: able to lift a two-hundred-pound weight; able to write music; able to travel widely; able to vote.
- having unusual or superior intelligence, skill, etc.: an able leader.
- showing talent, skill, or knowledge: an able speech.
- legally empowered, qualified, or authorized.
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- (usually initial capital letter) a code word formerly used in communications to represent the letter A.
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Origin of able
1275–1325; Middle English < Middle French < Latin habilis handy, equivalent to hab(ēre) to have, hold + -ilis -ile
Synonyms
See more synonyms for able on Thesaurus.com1. fit, fitted. 2. talented; skilled, clever, ingenious. 3. apt.
Synonym study
1. Able, capable, competent all mean possessing adequate power for doing something. Able implies power equal to effort required: able to finish in time. Capable implies power to meet or fulfill ordinary requirements: a capable worker. Competent suggests power to meet demands in a completely satisfactory manner: a competent nurse.
Antonyms
1. incompetent.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ablest
Contemporary Examples
Their finest thinkers and ablest warriors migrated southward.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates saw Petraeus as the ablest choice.
For many years his staff has been the ablest on Capitol Hill, but most of the public never knew their names.
Historical Examples
One of the ablest men, Mr. Toad, after all, that this country ever produced.
Vivian GreyEarl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli
Very many of the ablest and noblest statesmen of the time shared it with him.
Patrick HenryMoses Coit Tyler
He is their ablest general, and very active and enterprising.
At Aboukir and AcreGeorge Alfred Henty
It was shared and advocated by many of the best and ablest men.
The ablest critics and musicians in Europe have taken part in it.
The Standard OratoriosGeorge P. Upton
able
- (postpositive) having the necessary power, resources, skill, time, opportunity, etc, to do somethingable to swim
- capable; competent; talentedan able teacher
- law qualified, competent, or authorized to do some specific act
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Word Origin
C14: ultimately from Latin habilis easy to hold, manageable, apt, from habēre to have, hold + -ilis -ile
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for ablest
able
adj.
early 14c., from Old French (h)able (14c.), from Latin habilem, habilis "easily handled, apt," verbal adjective from habere "to hold" (see habit). "Easy to be held," hence "fit for a purpose." The silent h- was dropped in English and resisted academic attempts to restore it 16c.-17c., but some derivatives acquired it (e.g. habiliment, habilitate), via French.
Able-whackets - A popular sea-game with cards, in which the loser is beaten over the palms of the hands with a handkerchief tightly twisted like a rope. Very popular with horny-fisted sailors. [Smyth, "Sailor's Word-Book," 1867]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper