Ability vs Ambilevous - What's the difference?
ability | ambilevous |
(obsolete) Suitableness.
(uncountable) The quality or state of being able; capacity to do; capacity of doing something; having the necessary power.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)
, volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title=[http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/jul/01/education-michael-gove-finland-gcse Finland spreads word on schools]
, passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}}
The legal wherewithal to act.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
, title=[http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21579860-g8-pledges-tackle-three-ts-t-time T time]
, passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.}}
(archaic) Financial ability.
(uncountable) A unique power of the mind; a faculty.
* (rfdate) (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
(countable) A skill or competence in doing; mental power; talent; aptitude.
* (rfdate) (King James Bible) , (w) 11:29
* (rfdate) (1800-1859)
* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 10, author=Jeremy Wilson, work=Telegraph
, title=[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/8882713/England-Under-21-5-Iceland-Under-21-0-match-report.html England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report]
, passage=The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott.}}
(rare) Having equally bad ability in both hands; clumsy; butterfingered.
* 1646': Sir Thomas Browne and Nath Ekins, ''Pseudodoxia Epidemica'' (' 1658 republication),
* 1953 : The Pediatric Clinics of North America ,
* 1960 : Harry Bakwin and Ruth Mae Morris Bakwin, Clinical Management of Behavior Disorders in Children ,
* 1998 : Yoav Ariel, Shlomo Biderman, and Ornan Rotem, Relativism and Beyond ,
As a noun ability
is (obsolete) suitableness .As an adjective ambilevous is
(rare) having equally bad ability in both hands; clumsy; butterfingered.ability
English
Alternative forms
* (obsolete) habilityNoun
- Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study -
- Then the disciples, every man according to his ability , determined to send relief unto the brethren.
- The public men of England, with much of a peculiar kind of ability
Usage notes
* (skill or competence) Usually used in the plural. * Ability, capacity : these words come into comparison when applied to the higher intellectual powers. ** Ability has reference to the active'' exercise of our faculties. It implies not only native vigor of mind, but that ease and promptitude of execution which arise from mental training. Thus, we speak of the ''ability'' with which a book is written, an argument maintained, a negotiation carried on, etc. It always supposes something to be ''done'',George Crabb, 1826, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=YEgSAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13 English synonymes explained in alphabetical order]'', Collins & Hannay, page 13 and the power of ''doing it. ** Capacity has reference to the receptive'' powers. In its higher exercises it supposes great quickness of apprehension and breadth of intellect, with an uncommon aptitude for acquiring]] and retaining knowledge. Hence it carries with it the idea of ''resources'' and undeveloped power. Thus we speak of the extraordinary ''capacity'' of such men as , and [[w:Edmund Burke, Edmund Burke. "''Capacity''," says H. Taylor, "is requisite to devise, and ''ability to execute, a great enterprise." * The word abilities , in the plural, embraces both these qualities, and denotes high mental endowments.Synonyms
* (quality or state of being able) capacity, faculty, capability * (a skill or competence) See * (high level of skill or capability) talent, cleverness, dexterity, aptitude * (suitability or receptiveness to be acted upon) capability, faculty, capacity, aptness, aptitudeExternal links
* *References
ambilevous
English
Alternative forms
* The Oxford English Dictionary , second edition (1989) lists the ligated spelling () listed as secondary. (very rare) * ambilaevousAdjective
(en adjective)page 164
- Again, Some are as Galen hath expre??ed : that is, Ambilevous or left-handed on both ?ides; ?uch as with agility and vigour have not the u?e of either : who are not gymna?tically compo?ed : nor actively u?e tho?e parts. Now in the?e there is no right hand : of this con?titution are many women, and ?ome men, who though they accu?tome them?elves unto either hand, do dexterou?ly make u?e of neither.
page 607(W.B. Saunders Co.)
- Whereas the ambidextrous person is regarded as one who is capable of using both hands with equal dexterity, there are others, referred to as ambilevous , who use both hands equally awkwardly.
page 330(Saunders)
- The ambilevous (the opposite of ambidextrous) child is unable to use either hand more skillfully than the other, but is equally awkward in the use of each.
page 262] ([http://www.brill.nl/ BRILL; ISBN 9004109307)
- I as a right-handed person do not have the option of becoming genuinely ambidextrous, literally one with ‘two right hands’. And I surely must guard against sinking into one is who is doubly left-handed, or ambilevous . (We may notice the prejudice uncovered by etymology.) But I can, by will and practice, lessen the native inferiority of my weaker side.