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Interest vs Ability - What's the difference?

interest | ability |

In uncountable terms the difference between interest and ability

is that interest is attention that is given to or received from someone or something while ability is a unique power of the mind; a faculty.

In countable terms the difference between interest and ability

is that interest is something one is interested in while ability is a skill or competence in doing; mental power; talent; aptitude.

In obsolete terms the difference between interest and ability

is that interest is to cause or permit to share while ability is suitableness.

As nouns the difference between interest and ability

is that interest is the price paid for obtaining, or price received for providing, money or goods in a credit transaction, calculated as a fraction of the amount or value of what was borrowed while ability is suitableness.

As a verb interest

is to engage the attention of; to awaken interest in; to excite emotion or passion in, in behalf of a person or thing.

interest

English

Alternative forms

* enterest * (l) (obsolete)

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (label) A great attention and concern from someone or something; intellectual curiosity.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=10 , passage=The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.}}
  • * , chapter=1
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”}}
  • (label) Attention that is given to or received from someone or something.
  • * , chapter=7
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=[…] St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Standing orders , passage=Over the past few years, however, interest has waxed again. A series of epidemiological studies, none big enough to be probative, but all pointing in the same direction, persuaded Emma Wilmot of the University of Leicester, in Britain, to carry out a meta-analysis. This is a technique that combines diverse studies in a statistically meaningful way.}}
  • (label) A business or amorous link or involvement.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author= Chico Harlan
    • , volume=189, issue=2, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Japan pockets the subsidy , passage=Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."}}
  • (label) Something one is interested in.
  • Injury, or compensation for injury; damages.
  • *, II.12:
    • How can this infinite beauty, power and goodnes admit any correspondencie or similitude with a thing so base and abject as we are, without extreme interest and manifest derogation from his divine greatnesse?
  • The persons interested in any particular business or measure, taken collectively.

    • Synonyms

    * (fraction of the amount or value of what was borrowed) cost of money

    Derived terms

    (Financial terms) * accrued interest * beneficial interest * capitalized interest * carried interest * compound interest * consumer interest * controlling interest * defered interest bond * earnings before interest and taxes * exact interest * imputed interest * indication of interest * insurable interest * interest-bearing * interest cover * interest expense * interest rate * interest-sensitive * minority interest * nominee interest * open interest * ordinary interest * pooling of interest * prepaid interest * security interest * short interest * simple interest * true interest cost * unearned interest (Non-financial terms) * by-interest * conflict of interest * future interest * human interest * interest group * legal interest * life interest * love interest * marine interest * place of interest * public interest * royalty interest * self-interest * special interest * terminable interest * undivided interest * vested interest * working interest

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To engage the attention of; to awaken interest in; to excite emotion or passion in, in behalf of a person or thing.
    • It might interest you to learn that others have already tried that approach.
    Action films don't really interest me.
  • To be concerned with or engaged in; to affect; to concern; to excite.
  • * Ford
    • Or rather, gracious sir, / Create me to this glory, since my cause / Doth interest this fair quarrel.
  • (obsolete) To cause or permit to share.
  • * Hooker
    • The mystical communion of all faithful men is such as maketh every one to be interested in those precious blessings which any one of them receiveth at God's hands.

    Antonyms

    * bore * disinterest

    Derived terms

    * interested * interesting

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    ability

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (obsolete) hability

    Noun

  • (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)
    • Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study -
  • (countable) A skill or competence in doing; mental power; talent; aptitude.
  • * (rfdate) (King James Bible) , (w) 11:29
    • Then the disciples, every man according to his ability , determined to send relief unto the brethren.
  • * (rfdate) (1800-1859)
    • The public men of England, with much of a peculiar kind of ability
  • * {{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.}}

    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, aptitude

    Related terms

    *

    External links

    * *

    References