able
- 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.
- (usually initial capital letter) a code word formerly used in communications to represent the letter A.
Origin of able
Synonyms for able
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comSynonym study
Antonyms for able
Related Words for ablest
good, adept, capable, apt, competent, easy, ready, adequate, strong, intelligent, smart, skilled, effective, efficient, responsible, prepared, keen, adroit, agile, alertExamples from the Web for ablest
Contemporary Examples of ablest
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 of ablest
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
Word Origin for able
Word Origin and History for ablest
able
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]