able Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective (usually followed by `to') having the necessary means or skill or know-how or authority to do something
    • able to swim
    • she was able to program her computer
    • we were at last able to buy a car
    • able to get a grant for the project
  2. adjective satellite have the skills and qualifications to do things well
    capable.
    • able teachers
    • a capable administrator
    • children as young as 14 can be extremely capable and dependable
  3. adjective satellite having inherent physical or mental ability or capacity
    • able to learn
    • human beings are able to walk on two feet
    • Superman is able to leap tall buildings
  4. adjective satellite having a strong healthy body
    able-bodied.
    • an able seaman
    • every able-bodied young man served in the army

WordNet

A"ble adjective
Etymology
OF. habile, L. habilis that may be easily held or managed, apt, skillful, fr. habere to have, hold. Cf. Habile and see Habit.
Wordforms
comparative Abler superlative Ablest
Definitions
  1. Fit; adapted; suitable. Obs.
    A many man, to ben an abbot able. Chaucer.
  2. 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.
  3. 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. Macaulay.
  4. (Law) Legally qualified; possessed of legal competence; as, able to inherit or devise property. Able for, is Scotticism.
    "Hardly able for such a march." Robertson.
    Syn. -- Competent; qualified; fitted; efficient; effective; capable; skillful; clever; vigorous; powerful.
A"ble transitive verb
Etymology
See Able, a.
Definitions
Obs.
  1. To make able; to enable; to strengthen. Chaucer.
  2. To vouch for. "I 'll able them." Shak.
*a*ble
Etymology
F. -able, L. -abilis.
Definitions
  1. 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. The form ible is used in the same sense. ✍ 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." Fitzed. Hall.

Webster 1913