unable
adjective
Simple meaning
Not having the ability or opportunity to do something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnaybuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈneɪbəl
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.
adjective
usually followed by `to'
Not having the necessary means or skill or know-how
Not able; lacking a certain ability.
Understand the Word
How this word is built, and what each part adds.
Unable means someone does not have the ability, chance or means to do something.
- un-
- not, or without
- able
- having the power or skill to do something
Prefix function , Not — expresses absence of the quality
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Not having the necessary means or skill or know-how
Used this way, unable 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
- No strong connotation
- 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 unable
- “Unable to get to town without a car.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.