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
And while your child's friends are their peers, peers can also be anyone of a similar status, such as people who are the same age, who have the same abilities, or who share a social status.
—
Amy Morin, Parents, 3 Apr. 2026
Her pressing abilities and defensive work rate will help, too.
—Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 3 Apr. 2026
Because Frank was looking for people, musicians, that had some kind of extraordinary, maybe quirky, abilities.
—George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Apr. 2026
The original series ran on Disney Channel from 2007 to 2012, following the Russo family as its three siblings navigated the challenges of adolescence while mastering their magical abilities.
—Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 2 Apr. 2026
Despite years of similar calls from top Chinese officials and attempts from Chinese companies to create their own chipmaking machines, China’s domestic chipmaking industry remains years behind American, Dutch and Japanese chipmaking abilities, according to experts.
—Jared Perlo, NBC news, 2 Apr. 2026
Services are offered in both English and Spanish, and sessions regularly incorporate art, yoga, and movement, adapted to each client's interests, communication style, and abilities.
—Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 2 Apr. 2026
After dinner, ranchers show off the abilities of their Border collies to muster mobs of sheep.
—New York Times, 2 Apr. 2026
The astronauts also practiced an important docking maneuver to test the Orion’s abilities for future missions.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 2 Apr. 2026
Amy Morin, Parents, 3 Apr. 2026
Her pressing abilities and defensive work rate will help, too.
—Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 3 Apr. 2026
Because Frank was looking for people, musicians, that had some kind of extraordinary, maybe quirky, abilities.
—George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Apr. 2026
The original series ran on Disney Channel from 2007 to 2012, following the Russo family as its three siblings navigated the challenges of adolescence while mastering their magical abilities.
—Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 2 Apr. 2026
Despite years of similar calls from top Chinese officials and attempts from Chinese companies to create their own chipmaking machines, China’s domestic chipmaking industry remains years behind American, Dutch and Japanese chipmaking abilities, according to experts.
—Jared Perlo, NBC news, 2 Apr. 2026
Services are offered in both English and Spanish, and sessions regularly incorporate art, yoga, and movement, adapted to each client's interests, communication style, and abilities.
—Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 2 Apr. 2026
After dinner, ranchers show off the abilities of their Border collies to muster mobs of sheep.
—New York Times, 2 Apr. 2026
The astronauts also practiced an important docking maneuver to test the Orion’s abilities for future missions.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 2 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abilities
Noun
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Iran’s military is suffering serious losses, and both its offensive and defensive capabilities will require a massive influx of resources to rebuild.—
Colin Pascal,
Baltimore Sun,
29 Mar. 2026
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The upgrade is seen as a key step in enhancing Japan’s maritime strike and deterrence capabilities.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Numbers or quantities in units don’t correspond to capacities of planes.—
Edward Lotterman,
Twin Cities,
29 Mar. 2026
-
Developed by researchers at the University of Surrey’s Advanced Technology Institute (ATI), the novel lithium-ion battery anode delivers some of the highest energy storage capacities reported for silicon–carbon nanotube systems, while maintaining stability over hundreds of charge cycles.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
28 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Are there skills from your documentary background that translated to this project?—
Brayden Garcia,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
1 Apr. 2026
-
The piece stresses that these skills must be explicitly taught rather than assumed.—
Darlin Tillery,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
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With Cloutier’s transfer to JSerra, two Fort Worth-area quarterbacks have now taken their talents west.—
Charles Baggarly,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
2 Apr. 2026
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Follow curiosity, and let your talents breathe.—
Tarot.com,
Sun Sentinel,
1 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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Students will build competencies in photography, filmmaking, narrative writing, production and post-production, alongside a grounding in visual culture and contemporary aesthetics.—
Andrea Onate,
Footwear News,
30 Mar. 2026
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Strengthening these competencies is associated with lower rates of aggression.—
Beverly Kingston,
The Conversation,
5 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Abilities.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abilities. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
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