FromMiddle Englishabilnes; equivalent toable +-ness.
ableness (usuallyuncountable,pluralablenesses)
- (uncountable, now rare)Ability of body or mind.[First attested from around 1350 to 1470.][1]
- Synonyms:force,power,vigour
1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar),Myles Coverdale, transl.,Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible),[Cologne or Marburg]:[Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?],→OCLC,II. Corinthians iij:[5],folio lxxviij, verso, column 2:[…]not that we are ſufficient of oure ſelues to thynke eny thinge, as of oure ſelues, but oureableneſſe commeth of God,[…]
1612,Samuel Danyel [i.e., Daniel], “The Raigne of King Stephen”, inThe First Part of the Historie of England, London: […] Nicholas Okes, […],→OCLC,page225:[…] in ſtead of a brother ſhe [Empress Matilda] had a ſonne grew vp to be of more eſtimatiõ with the Nobilitie, and ſhortly after ofablenes to vndergo the trauailes of warre.
1906,Ambrose Bierce, “income”, inThe Cynic’s Word Book, London: Arthur F. Bird […],→OCLC,page183:[…] the true use and function of property[…] as also of honors, titles, preferments, and place, and all favor and acquaintance of persons of quality orableness, are but to get money.
1997,Don DeLillo,Underworld[1], New York: Scribner,Part 5, Chapter 3, p. 549:She knew how to do things and make things and even her good looks were competent, a straightforward sort ofableness, open and clear-eyed, with a smatter of fading freckles and a dirty-minded smile.
- (uncountable, specifically) The degree to which one isabled ordisabled.
2018 December 3,Louis Menand, “Literary Hoaxes and the Ethics of Authorship”, inThe New Yorker[2], New York, N.Y.:Condé Nast Publications,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe original on2023-03-27:In academic discourse, hybridity is out; intersectionality is in. People are imagined as the sum of their race, gender, sexuality,ableness, and other identities.
2021 October 26, David Kaplan, “Mastercard's Touch Card Continues Brand's Marketing Efforts to Engage All Consumers—and Their Senses”, inAdweek[3], New York, N.Y.: Adweek, LLC,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe original on23 December 2023:The card's release is presented as part of a broader effort to demonstrate that inclusiveness, and addressing discrimination across race, sex or degrees ofableness isn't just a social marketing good—it's good for business.
- (countable, rare) Something one isable to do.
- Synonyms:ability,capacity,competency
1991,Keith Dowding, chapter 4, inRational Choice and Political Power[4], Aldershot, Hants: E. Elgar, page52:For [Peter] Morriss abilities are the capacities we have which we may use under particular conditions (power in a generic sense).Ablenesses are the abilities when those particular conditions obtain (power in a particular sense).
- ^Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “ableness”, inThe Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.:Oxford University Press,→ISBN, page 5.
