ABLE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Able

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/ˈeɪbəl/ Listen

Able

adjective

(compar. abler; superl. ablest)

(usually followed by 'to') having the necessary means or skill or know-how or authority to do something. "She was able to program her computer" , "We were at last able to buy a car" , "Able to get a grant for the project"

Have the skills and qualifications to do things well. Synonym: capable. "A capable administrator" , "Children as young as 14 can be extremely capable and dependable"

Having inherent physical or mental ability or capacity. "Human beings are able to walk on two feet" , "Superman is able to leap tall buildings"

Having a strong healthy body. Synonym: able-bodied. "Every able-bodied young man served in the army"

See more definitions of Able...

Related searches:

Share |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Able" Quotes from Famous Books

... with reason or with instinct blest, Know, all enjoy that power which suits them best; 80 To bliss alike by that direction tend, And find the means proportion'd to their end. Say, where full instinct is th' unerring guide, What pope or council can they need beside? Reason, however able, cool at best, Cares not for service, or but serves when press'd, Stays till we call, and then not often near; But honest instinct comes a volunteer, Sure never to o'ershoot, but just to hit; While still too wide or ...

— The Poetical Works Of Alexander Pope, Vol. 1 • Alexander Pope et al

... is to be feared singing must be wholly omitted in some places for want of skill if this art is not revived. I was present in a congregation where singing was for a whole Sabbath omitted for want of a man able to lead the assembly ...

— The Standard Oratorios - Their Stories, Their Music, And Their Composers • George P. Upton

... vaults for burying the dead. The stairs descending to this place of terrors are not above thirty, but so steep and narrow, that they are very difficult to go down, a child of eight or nine years not being able to pass them but sideways."—WALDRON'S Description of the Isle of Man, in ...

— Peveril of the Peak • Sir Walter Scott

... Moreover, the already heavily curtailed list of guests would have to be narrowed to even smaller proportions. The presence of so many as the score of selected guests might prove to be hazardous in view of the old gentleman's state of nerves, not to say health. Mr. Thorpe was able to be up and about with the aid of the imperturbable Wade, but he was exceedingly irascible and hard to manage. He was annoyed with Braden. When the strange illness came early in the night, he sent out ...

— From the Housetops • George Barr McCutcheon

... were among his chief assets. When he hung about in an aimless, loafing way, as he very often did, he was overlooked by those whose actions he was so discreetly watching, and where mere loafing would look suspicious, he had the inestimable gift of being able to waste time in an ...

— The Pit Prop Syndicate • Freeman Wills Crofts

More quotes...