| / English Dictionary |
CAPABLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having the requisite qualities for
Example:
the work isn't up to the standard I require
Synonyms:
adequate to; capable; equal to; up to
Classified under:
Similar:
adequate; equal (having the requisite qualities or resources to meet a task)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(usually followed by 'of') having capacity or ability
Example:
capable of walking on two feet
Classified under:
Similar:
able (having inherent physical or mental ability or capacity)
confident; sure-footed; surefooted (not liable to error in judgment or action)
resourceful (having inner resources; adroit or imaginative)
Also:
competent (properly or sufficiently qualified or capable or efficient)
Attribute:
capability; capableness (the quality of being capable -- physically or intellectually or legally)
capability; capableness; potentiality (an aptitude that may be developed)
Antonym:
incapable ((followed by 'of') lacking capacity or ability)
Derivation:
capability; capableness (the quality of being capable -- physically or intellectually or legally)
capableness (an aptitude that may be developed)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(followed by 'of') having the temperament or inclination for
Example:
no one believed her capable of murder
Classified under:
Adjectives
Antonym:
incapable ((followed by 'of') not having the temperament or inclination for)
Derivation:
capableness (the quality of being capable -- physically or intellectually or legally)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Have the skills and qualifications to do things well
Example:
children as young as 14 can be extremely capable and dependable
Synonyms:
able; capable
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
competent (properly or sufficiently qualified or capable or efficient)
Derivation:
capability (an aptitude that may be developed)
capableness (the quality of being capable -- physically or intellectually or legally)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Possibly accepting or permitting
Example:
the time is fixed by the director and players and therefore subject to much variation
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
susceptible ((often followed by 'of' or 'to') yielding readily to or capable of)
Derivation:
capability (the susceptibility of something to a particular treatment)
Context examples:
A purified Keyhole Limpet Hemocyanin, a potent antigenic protein capable of eliciting both humoral and cellular immune responses against tumor cells.
(BCI Immune Activator, NCI Thesaurus)
A surface-reactive glass-ceramic biomaterial that is capable of ion exchange and hydrolysis.
(Bioactive Glass Product, NCI Thesaurus)
Watermelon rind, usually discarded as waste, has been shown by researchers in Pakistan to be capable of cheaply and efficiently removing arsenic from groundwater.
(Watermelon rind a cheap filter for arsenic in groundwater, SciDev.Net)
Moving or capable of moving readily.
(Mobile, NCI Thesaurus)
Lord John's observations are frequently exceedingly fanciful, and he is capable of attributing the most absurd reasons to the respect which is always shown by the most undeveloped races to dignity and character.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The genome is composed of linear, double-stranded DNA and the virus is capable of infection either with or without its external membrane envelope.
(Molluscipoxvirus, NCI Thesaurus)
Then you are mistaken, and you know nothing about me, and nothing about the sort of love of which I am capable.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The qualities in his kind that in the beginning made it possible for them to come in to the fires of men, were qualities capable of development.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
They are also preparing other structures capable of using light to perform chemical reactions, such as the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen.
(Plastic crystals hold key to record-breaking energy transport, Universities of Cambridge)
Microglia are capable of phagocytosis and play an important role in a wide spectrum of neuropathologies.
(Microglia, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
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