talent

talent [tal′ənt]

n.

[ME < OE talente < L talentum, a coin, orig., unit of weight < Gr talanton, a unit of money, weight, orig., a balance < IE base * tel-, to lift up, weigh, bear > TOLERATE: senses 2-4 from the parable of the talents (Matt: 25:14-30)]

1. any of various large units of weight or of money (the value of a talent weight in gold, silver, etc.) used in ancient Greece, Rome, the Middle East, etc.

2. any natural ability or power; natural endowment

3. a superior, apparently natural ability in the arts or sciences or in the learning or doing of anything

4. people collectively, or a person, with talent [to encourage young talent]

talented

adj.

SYN.- TALENT implies an apparently native ability for a specific pursuit and connotes either that it is or can be cultivated by the one possessing it [a talent for drawing ]; GIFT suggests that a special ability is bestowed upon one, as by nature, and not acquired through effort [a gift for making plants grow ]; APTITUDE implies a natural inclination for a particular work, specif. as pointing to special fitness for, or probable success in, it [aptitude tests ]; FACULTY implies a special ability that is either inherent or acquired, as well as a ready ease in its exercise [the faculty of judgment ]; KNACK implies an acquired faculty for doing something cleverly and skillfully [the knack of rhyming ]; GENIUS implies an inborn mental endowment, specif. of a creative or inventive kind in the arts or sciences, that is exceptional or phenomenal [the genius of Edison ]