skill
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
A capacity to do something well.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
skilIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈskɪl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.
adjective
ukslang
Great, excellent.
verb
video games
To spend acquired points in exchange for skills.
intransitive
To have personal or practical knowledge; be versed or practised; be expert or dextrous.
intransitive
To have knowledge or comprehension; discern.
transitive
To set apart; separate.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.
Used this way, skill is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use skill
- “The skill of a well-trained boxer.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Having or showing or requiring special skill.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A worker who has acquired special skills.
A worker who has acquired special skills.
More than ordinary ability.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: capacity to do something well
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.