ABLE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Able

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/ˈeɪbəl/ Listen

adjective

Able adj. (compar. abler; superl. ablest)

Fit; adapted; suitable. (Obs.) "A many man, to ben an abbot able."

Having sufficient power, strength, force, skill, means, or resources of any kind to accomplish the object; possessed of qualifications rendering competent for some end; competent; qualified; capable; as, an able workman, soldier, seaman, a man able to work; a mind able to reason; a person able to be generous; able to endure pain; able to play on a piano.

Specially: Having intellectual qualifications, or strong mental powers; showing ability or skill; talented; clever; powerful; as, the ablest man in the senate; an able speech. "No man wrote abler state papers."

(Law) Legally qualified; possessed of legal competence; as, able to inherit or devise property. Note: Able for, is Scotticism. ""Hardly able for such a march.""

Synonyms: Competent; qualified; fitted; efficient; effective; capable; skillful; clever; vigorous; powerful.

verb

Able v. t. (Obs.)

To make able; to enable; to strengthen.

To vouch for. "I 'll able them."

suffix

-able suff. An adjective suffix now usually in a passive sense; able to be; fit to be; expressing capacity or worthiness in a passive sense; as, movable, able to be moved; amendable, able to be amended; blamable, fit to be blamed; salable. Note: The form -ible is used in the same sense. Note: It is difficult to say when we are not to use -able instead of -ible. "Yet a rule may be laid down as to when we are to use it. To all verbs, then, from the Anglo-Saxon, to all based on the uncorrupted infinitival stems of Latin verbs of the first conjugation, and to all substantives, whencesoever sprung, we annex -able only."

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Etymology of 'Able'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"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

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