as in capabilities
the physical or mental power to do something
as a result of the accident the once-vigorous athlete lost the ability to walk
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Recent Examples of abilities
Fuller could easily be a game-day active player because of those special teams abilities.
—
Joe Buscaglia, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2026
In the past, even when Gobert has done his job to the best of anyone’s abilities, Jokic has often found answers in the form of knocking down outside jumpers or by flashing his feathery touch in the midrange.
—Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 24 Apr. 2026
This model is perfect for people who need a good mobile workspace or want a high-quality entertainment center but don’t need the extra abilities of the iPad Pros.
—Bestreviews, Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2026
Classes are accessible to all levels and abilities.
—Ramona Sentinel, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Apr. 2026
For the handful of hardy fans who braved the torrential rain to watch the team at open training, there is little doubt in her abilities.
—Sebastian Shukla, CNN Money, 23 Apr. 2026
Certainly during Shakespeare’s day and his characters and in the medical literature, their brains light up, their memories, their imaginations, their intellectual abilities, and, yes, maybe telekinetic powers.
—Fiction Non Fiction, Literary Hub, 23 Apr. 2026
In 1961, Clayface’s shape-shifting abilities were established.
—Giana Levy, Variety, 22 Apr. 2026
For nearly half a century after the creation of the Girls’ Athletic Association, photos of girls playing sports were accompanied by captions that disparaged their athletic abilities.
—Michael A Messner, The Conversation, 22 Apr. 2026
Joe Buscaglia, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2026
In the past, even when Gobert has done his job to the best of anyone’s abilities, Jokic has often found answers in the form of knocking down outside jumpers or by flashing his feathery touch in the midrange.
—Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 24 Apr. 2026
This model is perfect for people who need a good mobile workspace or want a high-quality entertainment center but don’t need the extra abilities of the iPad Pros.
—Bestreviews, Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2026
Classes are accessible to all levels and abilities.
—Ramona Sentinel, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Apr. 2026
For the handful of hardy fans who braved the torrential rain to watch the team at open training, there is little doubt in her abilities.
—Sebastian Shukla, CNN Money, 23 Apr. 2026
Certainly during Shakespeare’s day and his characters and in the medical literature, their brains light up, their memories, their imaginations, their intellectual abilities, and, yes, maybe telekinetic powers.
—Fiction Non Fiction, Literary Hub, 23 Apr. 2026
In 1961, Clayface’s shape-shifting abilities were established.
—Giana Levy, Variety, 22 Apr. 2026
For nearly half a century after the creation of the Girls’ Athletic Association, photos of girls playing sports were accompanied by captions that disparaged their athletic abilities.
—Michael A Messner, The Conversation, 22 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abilities
Noun
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With the third-year pro also coming off a subpar 2025 campaign, Wells’ offensive capabilities have been the subject of questioning in recent weeks and months.—
Gary Phillips,
New York Daily News,
26 Apr. 2026
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In the case of Iran, here too, the threat level was not enough to warrant strikes, according to a top government official responsible for observing and evaluating Iran’s capabilities.—
Gary Franks,
Hartford Courant,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The pact also calls for strengthening operational capacities of the Haiti National Police and Armed Forces of Haiti, defining cooperation protocols with the Gang Suppression Force and the reactivation of the National Commission for Disarmament, Dismantlement and Reintegration.—
Jacqueline Charles,
Miami Herald,
24 Apr. 2026
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Some of the capacities cited may also represent theoretical potential or systems that are not consistently operating at full scale.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Try this instead The prevalence of vaguebooking also speaks to the breakdown of communication skills more broadly.—
Charles Trepany,
USA Today,
28 Apr. 2026
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Facing a crisis in critical thinking skills, some are reviving oral exams, forcing students to defend their assignments to instructors in real time.—
Jocelyn Gecker,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Sheffield DocFest, the UK’s leading documentary film festival, will be welcoming some of nonfiction film’s biggest talents to the 33rd edition of the international event.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
29 Apr. 2026
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To show their talents and skills in the world, but don’t have a chance.—
Preezy Brown,
VIBE.com,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The researchers also announced a contest with a $200,000 prize pool on the popular machine learning competition site Kaggle for outside researchers to help build evaluations for the five cognitive faculties where existing benchmark tests are weakest.—
Jeremy Kahn,
Fortune,
30 Mar. 2026
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Strange occurrences quickly destabilize the group, with the writer becoming increasingly unhinged, convinced the location has an inexplicable hold over her creative faculties.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
17 Mar. 2026
Noun
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This model reflects Japan’s long-standing corporate culture, which prioritizes new hires for their general potential—their aptitudes and aspirations, as opposed to their current skill sets or university majors—and then trains them on the job.—
GRACIA LIU-FARRER,
Foreign Affairs,
18 Nov. 2025
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More money is apt to make homeschooling worse and far less tailored to the individual student and their interests and aptitudes by encouraging parents to substitute pricey group programs for the requisite effort of individualized instruction.—
Marie Sapirie,
Forbes.com,
25 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Learn from that and then get incredibly good rebuild core competencies.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
27 Apr. 2026
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Structured interviews, where each interviewer focuses on specific competencies, can also improve efficiency during the hiring process.—
Angelica Leicht,
CBS News,
20 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Abilities.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abilities. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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