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View synonyms for capable

capable

[ key-puh-buhl ]

adjective

  1. having power and ability; efficient; competent:

    a capable instructor.

    Synonyms: accomplished, ingenious, skillful



capable

/ ˈkeɪpəbəl /

adjective

  1. having ability, esp in many different fields; competent
  2. postpositivefoll byof able or having the skill (to do something)

    she is capable of hard work

  3. postpositivefoll byof having the temperament or inclination (to do something)

    he seemed capable of murder

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • ˈcapableness, noun
  • ˈcapably, adverb
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Other Words From

  • capa·ble·ness noun
  • capa·bly adverb
  • over·capa·ble adjective
  • quasi-capa·ble adjective
  • quasi-capa·bly adverb
  • super·capa·ble adjective
  • super·capa·ble·ness noun
  • super·capa·bly adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of capable1

First recorded in 1555–65; from Late Latin capābilis “intelligent, understandable,” apparently equivalent to cap(āx) “competent, fit, roomy” ( capacity ) + -ābilis able
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Word History and Origins

Origin of capable1

C16: from French, from Late Latin capābilis able to take in, from Latin capere to take
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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. capable of,
    1. having the ability or capacity for:

      a man capable of judging art.

    2. open to the influence or effect of; susceptible of:

      a situation capable of improvement.

    3. predisposed to; inclined to:

      capable of murder.

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Synonym Study

See able.
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Example Sentences

Family stories are funny things, though, capable of morphing and shifting over the years until the unknowns outnumber the knowns.

Technology capable of changing your brain’s activity with just a subtle nudge, however, brings “manipulation risks to the next level,” Ienca says.

Technology capable of changing your brain’s activity with just a subtle nudge, however, “brings current manipulation risks to the next level,” Ienca says.

It’s also become evident that children are capable of transmitting the virus to some extent.

That meant populous Fairfax County, which with the Inova hospital system had set up a network of sites capable of delivering at least 30,000 doses weekly, was positioned to scoop up more than half of Virginia’s weekly vaccine allocation.

At that point, who knows what they could have been capable of.

Hollywood might possibly fear North Korean sleeper cells capable of blowing up theaters that screen anti-Nork films.

Because especially my sister is not capable of doing the stuff that he is accusing her of doing.

Researchers in subsequent decades have indeed documented the violence, sexual and otherwise, that these birds are capable of.

Designed for “special missions,” the privately owned company is capable of transporting precious cargo anywhere in the world.

Nowhere can be found a region capable of supporting a larger population to the square mile than Lombardy.

I should pay a capable secretary like you—knowing several languages and all that—say forty dollars a week.

She did not realize that a passion for a business enterprise, as for a woman, is capable of destroying the balance of any man.

Aunt Ri gazed at her with a sentiment as near to veneration as her dry, humorous, practical nature was capable of feeling.

He is shining black, and as he tosses his head one can see the wicked horns, capable of doing such terrible injury.

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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.

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Capablancacapacious