lexicow

ability

/əˈbɪləti//əˈbɪlɪti/·noun
I watch a strong figure take a loaded bar from the rack and drive it straight up to a clean lockout overhead — arms steady, the weight held high — and a check mark blinks above it in approval before the bar comes down and goes up again. Nobody is measuring how heavy it is or how much more could be added; the whole point is simply that the lift happens, cleanly, every time. The body can do the thing, and it does.
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Definition

Ability is the power to actually do something — from the Latin habilitas, 'fitness, aptness'. It is the present, working skill itself: a child's ability to read, a team's ability to deliver, a material's ability to bend without snapping. The word looks to performance, to what gets done, rather than to the most that could be done at the outer limit — that is capacity. Someone adept at a task plainly has ability; whether they can also achieve it at scale is a separate question.

Examples

  • Her ability to stay calm under pressure made her a natural leader.
  • The new engine has the ability to switch fuels without stopping.
  • Reading widely will expand a student's ability to argue a case.

Collocations

the ability to·natural ability·a proven ability·ability to cope·demonstrate ability

Synonyms

skill·capability·aptitude·competence·capacity

Antonyms

inability·incompetence

See also

Word family

able (adjective)·ably (adverb)·enable (verb)

In TOEFL & IELTS

One of the highest-frequency academic nouns, almost always followed by 'to' + verb ('the ability to adapt'). In Writing it is a precise upgrade from 'can'. Watch the overlap with capacity: ability is the skill to do something now, while capacity is the maximum amount possible. The adjective is able; the verb enable ('technology enables...') is very common in academic prose.