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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

... absolutely dumb by shell-shock the soldier was able to earn a little extra money by doing odd jobs. But nothing could get his speech back. It was a very stubborn and perplexing case. For eighteen months he had not succeeded in uttering a word, though understanding everything that was said ...

— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, Dec. 5, 1917 • Various

... heart bounding with joy. The enormous weight which had oppressed him since the commencement of the conspiracy, and which Helene's love had scarcely been able to alleviate, now seemed to disappear as at the touch of ...

— The Regent's Daughter • Alexandre Dumas (Pere)

... and fit only for an old man, my comrades used to tell me, to be the night-watchman of a captive (though honoured) ship. And generally the oldest of the able seamen in a ship's crew does get it. But sometimes neither the oldest nor any other fairly steady seaman is forthcoming. Ships' crews had the trick of melting away swiftly in those days. So, probably on account of my youth, innocence, and pensive habits (which made me sometimes dilatory in ...

— The Mirror of the Sea • Joseph Conrad

... typography was invented. This version has been printed, and may be found in libraries, but is little read; for the same books have been since translated both by Victorius and Lambinus, who lived in an age more cultivated, but perhaps owed in part to Aretinus that they were able to excel him. Much is due to those who first broke the way to knowledge, and left only to their successors the task ...

— A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland • Samuel Johnson

... louis to his aunt, with a respectful letter, in which he stated that he had sufficient means of subsistence and that he should be able thenceforth to supply all his needs. At that moment, he ...

— Les Miserables - Complete in Five Volumes • Victor Hugo

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