What's the difference between able and can?

Able


Definition:

  • (superl.) Fit; adapted; suitable.
  • (superl.) Having sufficient power, strength, force, skill, means, or resources of any kind to accomplish the object; possessed of qualifications rendering competent for some end; competent; qualified; capable; as, an able workman, soldier, seaman, a man able to work; a mind able to reason; a person able to be generous; able to endure pain; able to play on a piano.
  • (superl.) Specially: Having intellectual qualifications, or strong mental powers; showing ability or skill; talented; clever; powerful; as, the ablest man in the senate; an able speech.
  • (superl.) Legally qualified; possessed of legal competence; as, able to inherit or devise property.
  • (a.) To make able; to enable; to strengthen.
  • (a.) To vouch for.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) We were able to detect genetic recombination between vaccine strains of PRV following in vitro or in vivo coinoculation of 2 strains of PRV.
  • (2) An effective graft-surveillance protocol needs to be applicable to all patients; practical in terms of time, effort, and cost; reliable; and able to detect, grade, and assess progression of lesions.
  • (3) Models able to describe the events of cellular growth and division and the dynamics of cell populations are useful for the understanding of functional control mechanisms and for the theoretical support for automated analysis of flow cytometric data and of cell volume distributions.
  • (4) Ursodeoxycholate was the only dihydroxy bile salt which was able to solubilize phospholipid (although not cholesterol) below the critical micellar concentration.
  • (5) Some of those drugs are able to stimulate the macrophages, even in an aspecific way, via the gut associated lymphatic tissue (GALT), that is in connection with the bronchial associated lymphatic tissue (BALT).
  • (6) It was also able to inhibit the binding both of alpha-bungarotoxin and rabies virus glycoprotein to the acetylcholine receptor.
  • (7) At the time, with a regular supply of British immigrants arriving in large numbers in Australia, Biggs was able to blend in well as "Terry Cook", a carpenter, so well in fact that his wife, Charmian, was able to join him with his three sons.
  • (8) But RWE admitted it had often only been able to retain customers with expired contracts by offering them new deals with more favourable conditions.
  • (9) The procedure used in our laboratory was not able to provide accurate determination of the concentrations of these binding forms.
  • (10) As players, we want what's right, and we feel like no one in his family should be able to own the team.” The NBA has also said that Shelly Sterling should not remain as owner.
  • (11) It was also shown that after a shock at 44 degrees C teratocarcinoma cells were able to accumulate anomalous amounts of hsp 70 despite hsp 70 synthesis inhibition.
  • (12) We want to be sure that the country that’s providing all the infrastructure and support to the business is the one that reaps the reward by being able to collect the tax,” he said.
  • (13) Many thoracic motoneurons were able to survive up to posthatching stages following transplantation.
  • (14) Critics say he is unelectable as prime minister and will never be able to implement his plans, but he has nonetheless pulled attention back to an issue that many thought had gone away for good.
  • (15) Confidence is the major prerequisite for a doctor to be able to help his seriously ill patient.
  • (16) After four years of existence, many evaluations were able to show the qualities of this system regarding root canal penetration, cleaning and shaping.
  • (17) Obamacare price hikes show that now is the time to be bold | Celine Gounder Read more No longer able to keep patients off their plans outright, insurers have resorted to other ways to discriminate and avoid paying for necessary treatments.
  • (18) By growing purified human cytotrophoblasts under serum-free conditions and manipulating the culture surface, we were able to disassociate morphologic from biochemical differentiation.
  • (19) By means of two monoclonal antibodies, which were directed against external and internal acetylcholine (ACh) receptor epitopes, we were able to visualize ACh-receptors on OHCs.
  • (20) Our findings demonstrate that interleukin-2 (IL-2), but not interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) or interleukin-1 (IL-1), is able to inhibit the induction of T-cell unresponsiveness in a dose-dependent fashion.

Can


Definition:

  • () an obs. form of began, imp. & p. p. of Begin, sometimes used in old poetry. [See Gan.]
  • (n.) A drinking cup; a vessel for holding liquids.
  • (n.) A vessel or case of tinned iron or of sheet metal, of various forms, but usually cylindrical; as, a can of tomatoes; an oil can; a milk can.
  • (v. t.) To preserve by putting in sealed cans
  • (v. t. & i.) To know; to understand.
  • (v. t. & i.) To be able to do; to have power or influence.
  • (v. t. & i.) To be able; -- followed by an infinitive without to; as, I can go, but do not wish to.

Example Sentences:

Words possibly related to "able"

Words possibly related to "can"