What does “able” mean?
- 1
adjectivehaving the skill, time or chance to do something
Will you be able to come to the meeting tomorrow?
- 2
adjectiveclever or good at what you do
He is a very able student.
Able at a glance
- Part of speech
- adjective
- CEFR level
- A2 (elementary)
- Pronunciation
- /ˈeɪbəl/ · AY-buhl
How to use “able” correctly
“Can” has no future or perfect form, so use “be able to” instead: “I’ll be able to help”, “I haven’t been able to call”.
Common phrases with “able”
- be able to do sth
- no longer able to
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Antonyms (opposite meaning)
- unable
Word family
- ability
- unable
- ably
- enable
“able” is on these word lists
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