capable
pronunciation
How to pronounce capable in British English:
UK [ˈkeɪpəbl]
How to pronounce capable in American English:
US [ˈkeɪpəbl]
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- Adjective:
- (usually followed by `of') having capacity or ability
- possibly accepting or permitting
- (followed by `of') having the temperament or inclination for
- having the requisite qualities for
- have the skills and qualifications to do things well
Word Origin
- capable
- capable: [16] In common with a wide range of other English words, from capture to recuperate, capable comes from Latin capere ‘take’, a relative of English heave. An adjective derived from the verb was Latin capāx ‘able to hold much’, from which English gets capacious [17] and capacity [15]. From its stem capāci- was formed the late Latin adjective capābilis, also originally ‘able to contain things’.This meaning still survived when the word passed, via French capable, into English (‘They are almost capable of a bushel of wheat’, Thomas Wright, The Passions of the Mind 1601), but by the end of the 18th century it had died out, having passed into the current ‘able to, susceptible of’.=> capacious, capacity, capture, chase, heave, recuperate
- capable (adj.)
- 1560s, from Middle French capable or directly from Late Latin capabilis "receptive; able to grasp or hold," used by theologians, from Latin capax "able to hold much, broad, wide, roomy;" also "receptive, fit for;" adjectival form of capere "to grasp, lay hold, take, catch; undertake; take in, hold; be large enough for; comprehend," from PIE *kap- "to grasp" (cognates: Sanskrit kapati "two handfuls;" Greek kaptein "to swallow, gulp down;" Lettish kampiu "seize;" Old Irish cacht "servant-girl," literally "captive;" Welsh caeth "captive, slave;" Gothic haban "have, hold;" Old English hæft "handle," habban "to have, hold," Modern English have). Related: Capably.
Synonym
Example
- 1. Iceland has others capable of even greater nastiness .
- 2. Downloaded app will also be capable of changing the color .
- 3. Not all juries are capable of identifying talent in this way .
- 4. Nobody really understood how he had been capable of such a crime .
- 5. The pentagon says china has only 20 missiles capable of reaching the american mainland .