capable

Borrowed from Middle French capable, from Late Latin capābilis.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkeɪpəbl̩/

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capable (comparative more capable, superlative most capable)

1. Able and efficient; having the ability needed for a specific task; having the disposition to do something; permitting or being susceptible to something.

   She is capable and efficient.

   He does not need help; he is capable of eating on his own.

   As everyone knew, he was capable of violence when roused.

   That fact is not capable of proof.

2. (obsolete) Of sufficient capacity or size for holding, containing, receiving or taking in; accessible to. Construed with of, for or an infinitive.
   • 1672, Lord Herbert, The Life and Reign of King Henry the Eighth, page 594:

     The place chosen was the cathedral church, capable of about 400 persons.

   • 1775, Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (Works 10.479):

     He has begun a road capable of a wheel-carriage.

• See also Thesaurus:skillful

• incapable

• capability (noun)

• “capable” in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, →ISBN.

• pacable

From Latin capabilis.

• IPA^(key): /ka.pabl/

• audio

  (file)

capable (plural capables)

1. able, capable

• cap'

• “capable” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).