different between able vs brave

English

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) hable

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?e?.bl?/, /?e?.b?l/
• Rhymes: -e?b?l
• Homophone: Abel

Etymology 1

From Middle English able, from Old Northern French able, variant of Old French abile, habile, from Latin habilis (“easily managed, held, or handled; apt; skillful”), from habe? (“have, possess”) +? -ibilis.

Adjective

able (comparative abler, superlative ablest)

1. (obsolete) Easy to use. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the mid 18^th century.]
2. (obsolete) Suitable; competent. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 18^th century.]
3. (obsolete, dialectal) Liable to. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).]
4. Having the necessary powers or the needed resources to accomplish a task. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).]
5. Free from constraints preventing completion of task; permitted to; not prevented from. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).]

6. (obsolete, dialectal) Having the physical strength; robust; healthy. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).]

7. (obsolete) Rich; well-to-do. [Attested from the mid 16^th century until the late 19^th century.]

8. Gifted with skill, intelligence, knowledge, or competence. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]
9. (law) Legally qualified or competent. [First attested in the early 18^th century.]

10. (nautical) Capable of performing all the requisite duties; as an able seaman. [First attested in the late 18^th century.]

Usage notes

• In standard English, one is "able to do something". In some older texts representing various dialects, particularly Irish English, or black speech, "able for do something" is found instead, and in some Caribbean dialects "able with" is sometimes found.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:skillful

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English ablen, from Middle English able (adjective).

Verb

able (third-person singular simple present ables, present participle abling, simple past and past participle abled)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To make ready. [Attested from around (1150 to 1350) until the late 16^th century.]
2. (transitive, obsolete) To make capable; to enable. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 19^th century.]
3. (transitive, obsolete) To dress. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 15^th century.]
4. (transitive, obsolete) To give power to; to reinforce; to confirm. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the mid 17^th century.]
5. (transitive, obsolete) To vouch for; to guarantee. [Attested from the late 16^th century until the early 17^th century.]

Derived terms

• abled

Translations

Etymology 3

From the first letter of the word. Suggested in the 1916 United States Army Signal Book to distinguish the letter when communicating via telephone, and later adopted in other radio and telephone signal standards.

Noun

able (uncountable)

1. (military) The letter "A" in Navy Phonetic Alphabet.

References

Anagrams

• Abel, Bale, Beal, Blea, Ebla, Elba, albe, bael, bale, beal, blea

French

Noun

able m (plural ables)

1. a vernacular name of the common bleak (usually called ablette)
2. a vernacular name of the sunbleak or moderlieschen, also called able de Heckel
3. (rare) a vernacular name of any of some other related fishes in the genus Alburnus (Cyprinidae)

Further reading

• “able” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• Abel, Bâle, béal, bêla

Old French

Alternative forms

• abile
• abille
• habile

Etymology

Latin habilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a.bl?/

Adjective

able m (oblique and nominative feminine singular able)

1. able; capable

Declension

Descendants

• French: habile
  • ? Romanian: abil
• ? Middle Dutch: abel
  • Dutch: abel
• ? Middle English: able, habil
  • English: able, habile
    • ? Welsh: abl

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ebl/
• (South Scots) IPA^(key): /j?bl/

Adjective

able (comparative mair able, superlative maist able)

1. able, substantial, physically fit, strong, shrewd, cute
2. (obsolete) well-to-do, rich

English

Etymology

From Middle French brave, borrowed from Italian bravo, itself of uncertain origin (see there).

Pronunciation

• enPR: br?v, IPA^(key): /b?e?v/
• Rhymes: -e?v

Adjective

brave (comparative braver, superlative bravest)

1. Strong in the face of fear; courageous.

   Synonyms: bold, daring, doughty, orped, resilient, stalwart

   Antonyms: cowardly, fearful, mean, weak

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Chapter 21:

     Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I need your help.

   • 1987, Michael Grumley, The Last Diary:

     […] he has been so brave, giving it all a dignity.

2. (obsolete) Having any sort of superiority or excellence.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Plantations

     Iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth.

   • February 18, 1666, Samuel Pepys,, diary entry

     It being a brave day, I walked to Whitehall.

3. Making a fine show or display.
   • 1611, John Cooke, Greene's Tu Quoque

     For I have gold, and therefore will be brave. / In silks I'll rattle it of every color.

   • 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, May-Day

     Frog and lizard in holiday coats / And turtle brave in his golden spots.

   • So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

Synonyms

• (courageous): See also Thesaurus:brave

Translations

Noun

brave (plural braves)

1. (dated) A Native American warrior.
2. (obsolete) A man daring beyond discretion; a bully.
   • 1677, John Dryden, The State of Innocence

     Hot braves like thee may fight.

3. (obsolete) A challenge; a defiance; bravado.

Translations

Verb

brave (third-person singular simple present braves, present participle braving, simple past and past participle braved)

1. (transitive) To encounter with courage and fortitude, to defy, to provoke.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act IV, sc. 3:

     For Cassius is aweary of the world;

     Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother;

     Checked like a bondman; all his faults observed,

     Set in a notebook, learned, and conned by rote,

     To cast into my teeth.

   • 1670, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards:

     The ills of Love, not those of Fate, I fear,

     These I can brave, but those I cannot bear […]

   • 1773, A Farmer, Rivington's New-York Gazetteer, Number 53, December 2

     […] but they [Parliament] never will be braved into it.

   After braving tricks on the high-dive, he braved a jump off the first diving platform.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To adorn; to make fine or showy.
   • ca. 1590–92, William Shakespeare The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, sc. 3 (addressed to a tailor; first use in sense of "adorn", second and third uses in sense of "confront"):

     Face not me. Thou hast braved many men; brave

     not me. I will neither be faced nor braved.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Baver

Esperanto

Etymology 1

brava +? -e

Adverb

brave

1. bravely, valiantly

Etymology 2

From Italian bravo.

Interjection

brave

1. bravo

French

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Italian bravo. Compare Spanish, Portuguese bravo. Doublet of bravo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?av/

Adjective

brave (plural braves)

1. brave
2. honest

Synonyms

• courageux
• bon
• honnête
• preux

Noun

brave m (plural braves)

1. hero

Related terms

Further reading

• “brave” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• baver

German

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?v?

Adjective

brave

1. inflection of brav:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

brave

1. feminine plural of bravo

Norman

Etymology

From Late Latin *bravus.

Adjective

brave m or f

1. brave

Derived terms

• bravement (“bravely”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

brave

1. definite singular/plural of brav

Pali

Alternative forms

Verb

brave

1. first-person singular present/imperative middle of br?ti (“to say”)