(usually followed by `to') having the necessary means or skill or know-how or authority to do something; "able to swim"; "she was able to program her computer"; "we were at last able to buy a car"; "able to get a grant for the project"
having inherent physical or mental ability or capacity; "able to learn"; "human beings are able to walk on two feet"; "Superman is able to leap tall buildings"
have the skills and qualifications to do things well; "able teachers"; "a capable administrator"; "children as young as 14 can be extremely capable and dependable"
having a strong healthy body; "an able seaman"; "every able-bodied young man served in the army"
characterized by often poignant difference or incongruity between what is expected and what actually is; "madness, an ironic fate for such a clear thinker"; "it was ironical that the well-planned scheme failed so completely"
of an obscure nature; "the new insurance policy is written without cryptic or mysterious terms"; "a deep dark secret"; "the inscrutable workings of Providence"; "in its mysterious past it encompasses all the dim origins of life"- Rachel Carson; "rituals totally mystifying to visitors from other lands"
beyond or outside an area of immediate interest; remote; "a suggestion ulterior to the present discussion"; "without...any purpose, immediate or ulterior"- G.B.Shaw