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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



625 words match “ABILITY”

PIER n.
e. Abutment pier, the pier of a bridge next the shore; a pier which by its strength and stability resists the thrust of an arch. -- Pier glass, a mirror, of high and narrow shape, to be put up between windows. -- Pier table, a table made to stand between windows.
PLOT n.
Contrivance; deep reach thought; ability to plot or intrigue. [Obs.] "A man of much plot." Denham.
POLYMORPHISM n.
The capability of assuming different forms; the capability of widely varying in form.
PONIBILITY n.
The capability of being placed or located. [Obs.] Barrow.
PORTABLENESS n.
The quality or state of being portable; portability.
POSSIBLE a.
ng done; not contrary to the nature of things; -- sometimes used to express extreme improbability; barely able to be, or to come to pass; as, possibly he is honest, as it is possible that Judas meant no wrong. With God all things are possible. Matt. xix. 26.
POTENCY n.
The quality or state of being potent; physical or moral power; inherent strength; energy; ability to effect a purpose; capability; efficacy; influence. "Drugs of potency." Hawthorne. A place of potency and away o' the state. Shak.
POTENTIALITY n.
The quality or state of being potential; possibility, not actuality; inherent capability or disposition, not actually exhibited.
POWER n. 4 definitions
Ability to act, regarded as latent or inherent; the faculty of doing or performing something; capacity for action or performance; capability of producing an effect, whether physical or moral: potency; might; as, a man of great power; the power of capillary attraction; money gives power. "One next himself in power, and…
PRECARIOUS a.
nown causes or events; exposed to constant risk; not to be depended on for certainty or stability; uncertain; as, a precarious state of health; precarious fortunes. "Intervals of partial and precarious liberty." Macaulay.
PREGNANT a.
Full of promise; abounding in ability, resources, etc.; as, a pregnant youth. [Obs.] Evelyn. Wherein the pregnant enemy does much. Shak. Pregnant construction (Rhet.), one in which more is implied than is said; as, the beasts trembled forth from their dens, that is, came forth trembling with fright.…
PREPONDERANCE; PREPONDERANCY n.
. . . reject or receive proportionably to the preponderancy of the greater grounds of probability. Locke. In a few weeks he had changed the relative position of all the states in Europe, and had restored the equilibrium which the preponderance of one power had destroyed. Macaulay.
PREROGATIVE n.
rted without question, and for the exercise of which there is no responsibility or accountability as to the fact and the manner of its exercise. The two faculties that are the prerogative of man -- the powers of abstraction and imagination. I. Taylor. An unconstitutional exercise of his prerogative. Macaulay.…
PRESUME v.
o be true, or entitled to belief, without examination or proof, or on the strength of probability; to take for granted; to infer; to suppose. Every man is to be presumed innocent till he is proved to be guilty. Blackstone. What rests but that the mortal sentence pass, . . . Which he presumes already vain and void, Beca…
PRESUMPTION n.
Ground for presuming; evidence probable, but not conclusive; strong probability; reasonable supposition; as, the presumption is that an event has taken place.
PRESUMPTIVE a.
Based on presumption or probability; grounded on probable evidence; probable; as, presumptive proof.
PRESUMPTIVELY adv.
By presumption, or supposition grounded or probability; presumably.
PRO RATA n.
In proportion; proportionately; according to the share, interest, or liability of each.
PROBABILIST n. 2 definitions
One who maintains that certainty is impossible, and that probability alone is to govern our faith and actions.
PROBABLE a.
xpress their degree of accuracy. -- The probable, that which is within the bounds of probability; that which is not unnatural or preternatural; -- opposed to the marvelous.
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