Ability vs Force - What's the difference?
ability | force |
(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.}}
Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.
:
* (1800-1859)
*:He was, in the full force of the words, a good man.
Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.
*(William Shakespeare), Henry VI, part II
*:which now they hold by force , and not by right
(lb) Anything that is able to make a big change in a person or thing.
A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body which is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
Something or anything that has the power to produce an effect upon something else.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=(Henry Petroski), volume=100, issue=2, page=112-3
, magazine=(American Scientist)
, title= (lb) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
:
*(William Shakespeare), (Cymbeline)
*:Is Lucius general of the forces ?
*
*:"A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there.."
*{{quote-news, year=2004, date=April 15, work=The Scotsman
, title= (lb) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.
:
(lb) A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person.
(lb) Legal validity.
:
(lb) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry ", or lawful compulsion.
(lb) To violate (a woman); to rape.
*:
*:For yf ye were suche fyfty as ye be / ye were not able to make resystence ageynst this deuyl / here lyeth a duchesse deede the whiche was the fayrest of alle the world wyf to syre Howel / duc of Bretayne / he hath murthred her in forcynge her / and has slytte her vnto the nauyl
*, II.1:
*:a young woman not farre from mee had headlong cast her selfe out of a high window, with intent to kill herselfe, only to avoid the ravishment of a rascally-base souldier that lay in her house, who offered to force her.
*, Bk.XVIII, Ch.xxi:
*:And I pray you for my sake to force yourselff there, that men may speke you worshyp.
(lb) To compel (someone or something) (to) do something.
*
*:Captain Edward Carlisle; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
*2011 , Tim Webb & Fiona Harvey, The Guardian , 23 March:
*:Housebuilders had warned that the higher costs involved would have forced them to build fewer homes and priced many homebuyers out of the market.
(lb) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of.
*, I.40:
*:Shall wee force the general law of nature, which in all living creatures under heaven is seene to tremble at paine?
(lb) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb).
*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
*:It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay / That scarce the victor forced the steel away.
*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
*:to force the tyrant from his seat by war
*(John Webster) (c.1580-c.1634)
*:Ethelbert ordered that none should be forced into religion.
*2007 , (The Guardian) , 4 November:
*:In a groundbreaking move, the Pentagon is compensating servicemen seriously hurt when an American tank convoy forced them off the road.
(lb) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force.
:
*2009 , "All things to Althingi", (The Economist) , 23 July:
*:The second problem is the economy, the shocking state of which has forced the decision to apply to the EU.
(lb) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.).
:
To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.
To create an out by touching a base in advance of a runner who has no base to return to while in possession of a ball which has already touched the ground.
:
(lb) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold.
(lb) To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.
*(John Webster) (c.1580-c.1634)
*:What can the church force more?
(lb) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
:(Shakespeare)
(lb) To allow the force of; to value; to care for.
*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
*:For me, I force not argument a straw.
(countable, Northern England) A waterfall or cascade.
* T. Gray
To stuff; to lard; to farce.
* Shakespeare
As nouns the difference between ability and force
is that ability is (obsolete) suitableness while force is force.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
force
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) force, fors, forse, from (etyl) .Noun
(wikipedia force)Opening Doors, passage=A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place. Applying a force tangential to the knob is essentially equivalent to applying one perpendicular to a radial line defining the lever.}}
Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer, passage=For Lothian and Borders Police, the early-morning raid had come at the end one of biggest investigations carried out by the force , which had originally presented a dossier of evidence on the murder of Jodi Jones to the Edinburgh procurator-fiscal, William Gallagher, on 25 November last year.}}
Usage notes
* Adjectives often applied to "force": military, cultural, economic, gravitational, electric, magnetic, strong, weak, positive, negative, attractive, repulsive, good, evil, dark, physical, muscular, spiritual, intellectual, mental, emotional, rotational, tremendous, huge.Derived terms
(Terms derived from "force") * air force * antiforce * brute force * centripetal force * centrifugal force * Coulomb force * Coriolis force * come into force * force field * force multiplier * force to be reckoned with * fundamental force * police force * spent force * task force * workforceVerb
(forc)Derived terms
* enforce * forceful * forcibleSee also
* Imperial unit: foot pound * metric unit: newton * coerce: To control by force.Etymology 2
From (etyl)Noun
(en noun)- to see the falls or force of the river Kent
Etymology 3
See .Verb
(forc)- Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit.
