| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | ability, skill |
| Synonyms: | adroitness, aptitude, aptness, bent, capability, capacity, cleverness, dexterity, facility, flair, forte, genius, gift, instinct, intelligence, knack, knowing way around, leaning, nose*, peculiarity, penchant, pistol, power, predilection, proclivity, propensity, property, quality, readiness, reason, right stuff, sense, strength, talent, turn, what it takes, wits |
| Notes: | a facility is a building or place that provides a particular service or is used for a particular industry or a skillful performance or ability without difficulty; faculty is one of the inherent cognitive or perceptual powers of the mind or the body of teachers and administrators at a school |
| Antonyms: | inability, incompetence, ineptness, lack, need |
| Main Entry: | ability |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | power to act, perform |
| Synonyms: | aptitude, capability, capacity, competence, competency, comprehension, dexterity, endowment, facility, faculty, intelligence, might, potentiality, qualification, resourcefulness, skill, strength, talent, understanding |
| Notes: | applied to a person, ability and capacity mean about the same thing but are grammatically different: an ability to do something, a capacity for doing something; ability is qualitative while capacity is quantitative |
| Antonyms: | impotence, inability, limitation, paralysis |
| Main Entry: | aptitude |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | quickness at learning |
| Synonyms: | ability, capability, capacity, cleverness, competence, faculty, flair, gift, giftedness, intelligence, knack, proficiency, savvy, smarts, stuff*, talent, what it takes |
| Notes: | aptitude and attitude derive from Latin aptitudo 'fitness,' the first through French, the second through a French borrowing of Italian attitudine |
| Antonyms: | incapacity, stupidity |
| Main Entry: | bent |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | inclination; talent |
| Synonyms: | ability, aim, aptitude, bag*, disposition, druthers, facility, faculty, flair, forte, genius, gift, head-set, inclining, knack, leaning, mind-set, nose, penchant, predilection, predisposition, preference, proclivity, propensity, set, tack, tendency, thing for, tilt, turn, weakness for |
| Main Entry: | caliber |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | capacity; character |
| Synonyms: | ability, appetency, capability, competence, constitution, dignity, distinction, endowment, essence, faculty, force, gifts, habilitation, merit, nature, parts, power, quality, scope, stature, strength, talent, value, virtue, worth, worthiness |
| Main Entry: | capability |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | ability to perform |
| Synonyms: | adequacy, aptitude, art, capacity, competence, craft, cunning, effectiveness, efficacy, efficiency, facility, faculty, means, might, potency, potential, potentiality, power, proficiency, qualification, qualifiedness, skill, wherewithal |
| Notes: | capacity refers to a general ability to comprehend an issue or perform a task; capability implies a reference to one of a set of such abilities |
| Antonyms: | impotence, inability, incompetence, ineptness |
| Main Entry: | capacity |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | ability; competency |
| Synonyms: | adequacy, aptitude, aptness, bent, brains, caliber, capability, cleverness, compass, competence, efficiency, facility, faculty, forte, genius, gift, inclination, intelligence, knack, might, power, qualification, readiness, skill, stature, strength, talent, the goods, up to it, what it takes |
| Notes: | applied to a person, ability and capacity mean about the same thing but are grammatically different: an ability to do something, a capacity for doing something; ability is qualitative while capacity is quantitative capacity refers to a general ability to comprehend an issue or perform a task; capability implies a reference to one of a set of such abilities |
| Antonyms: | impotence, inability, incompetence |
| Main Entry: | characteristic |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | typical feature, trait |
| Synonyms: | affection, aspect, attribute, badge, bag, bearing, bent, caliber, cast, complexion, component, differentia, disposition, distinction, earmark, endowment, essence, essential, faculty, flavor, frame, idiosyncrasy, inclination, individuality, lineament, mannerism, mark, mood, nature, originality, particularity, peculiarity, personality, point, property, quality, singularity, specialty, streak, stripe, style, symptom, temperament, tendency, thing, thumbprint, tinge, tone, trademark, turn, virtue |
| Antonyms: | abnormality |
| Main Entry: | efficiency |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | adeptness, effectiveness |
| Synonyms: | ability, abundance, adaptability, address, adequacy, capability, capableness, competence, competency, completeness, economy, effectualness, efficacy, energy, expertise, facility, faculty, know-how, performance, potency, power, powerfulness, productiveness, productivity, proficiency, prowess, quantity, readiness, resourcefulness, response, skill, skillfulness, suitability, suitableness, talent, thoroughness |
| Notes: | competence is a measure of the ability to perform a task; efficiency is a measure of the success achieved in the performance of a task |
| Antonyms: | helplessness, impotence, inability, incompetence, ineffectiveness, inefficiency, weakness |