What's the difference between inability and unable?

Inability


Definition:

  • (n.) The quality or state of being unable; lack of ability; want of sufficient power, strength, resources, or capacity.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Technical factors that account for increased difficulty in these patients include: problems with guide catheter impaction and ostial trauma; inability to inflate the balloon with adequate guide catheter support; and need for increased intracoronary manipulation.
  • (2) The mother in Arthur Ransome's children's classic, Swallows and Amazons, is something of a cipher, but her inability to make basic decisions does mean she receives one of the finest telegrams in all literature.
  • (3) Major limitations of the conventional sperm penetration assay are the inability to assess several aspects of sperm function (zona binding and penetration) and the absence of human ovulatory products known to influence fertilization.
  • (4) While cells that were treated with antibody were unable to aggregate because of the inability to destroy cAMP, they aggregated normally when washed free of antibody.
  • (5) Cessation of coital activity was associated with specified types of stress between 65 and 70 years of age in the subgroup of men who had stopped due to inability; six out of eight reported stress against five out of 20 in the C group, P less than 0.05.
  • (6) The patient was referred to the podiatry department because of continued discomfort and the inability to run.
  • (7) Localization of the receptor binding domain within the C-terminal region of PA was suggested by the inability of the monoclonal antibodies 3B6 and 14B7 to recognize the recombinant proteins expressed by C-terminal deletions of the pag gene.
  • (8) The most frequent presentation is the inability to retain the external prosthesis.
  • (9) Fibroblastic cells were characterized by their spindle shape, content of a mucopolysaccharide, their relative inability to synthesize infectious influenza virus, and production of a cell-associated noninfectious hemagglutinin.
  • (10) The determination of circulating biologically active PTH in the rat has been difficult due at least in part to the inability to develop an antibody suitable for RIA of rat PTH.
  • (11) We now provide evidence strongly suggesting that the primary defect in Lec8 and Clone 13 cells is their inability to translocate UDP-galactose into the lumen of the Golgi apparatus.
  • (12) A major limitation of 3-D CT is its inability to reconstruct the pathology of soft tissues with the same fidelity afforded bony structures.
  • (13) The researchers suggested that the inability to establish relationships may be due to a function of methods, sample size, or a reflection of a different population.
  • (14) First, chains are constrained by their inability to penetrate the boundary.
  • (15) The sequence of the murine protein differs from that of the human protein in 10% of residues, and it may be presumed that some of these differences are responsible for the inability of gibbon ape leukemia virus to infect mouse fibroblasts.
  • (16) Thus, children's early difficulty in reading may be one sign of a general inability to selectively attend to the parts of any perceptual wholes.
  • (17) As there is evidence for the relative inability of infants to synthesize taurine, this nitrogen compound has to be wholly supplied by the mother during pregnancy and by diet after birth, particularly for the prematures who have to constitute appreciable reserves in their tissues.
  • (18) The inability of these young smokers to enhance their mucus clearance by cough suggests a change in the mucociliary apparatus from normal.
  • (19) An additional 17 patients considered highly in need of treatment met criteria for commitment based on inability to care for self, but most were hospitalized voluntarily.
  • (20) Phosphoglyceride and triacylglycerol biosynthesis in glycerol kinase deficiency fibroblasts is not diminished by the inability to use glycerol as a precursor of glycerol 3-phosphate.

Unable


Definition:

  • (a.) Not able; not having sufficient strength, means, knowledge, skill, or the like; impotent' weak; helpless; incapable; -- now usually followed by an infinitive or an adverbial phrase; as, unable for work; unable to bear fatigue.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Unfortunately, due to confidentiality clauses that have been imposed on us by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, we are unable to provide our full names and … titles … However, we believe the evidence that will be submitted will validate the statements that we are making in this submission.” The submission detailed specific allegations – including names and dates – of sexual abuse of child detainees, violence and bullying of children, suicide attempts by children and medical neglect.
  • (2) Consensual but rationally weak criteria devised to extract inferences of causality from such results confirm the generic inadequacy of epidemiology in this area, and are unable to provide definitive scientific support to the perceived mandate for public health action.
  • (3) PMN were found to be nonpermissive for HSV replication and were unable to bind virus in the absence of antibody.
  • (4) E-RFC enriched for T lymphocytes and depleted of macrophages synthesized considerable DNA in response to stimulation with PHA, but were unable to produce significant bone resorbing activity in tissue culture unless macrophages were re-added to the E-RFC.
  • (5) Where he has taken a stand, like on gun control after the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, Obama was unable to achieve legislative change.
  • (6) A failure to reach a solution would potentially leave 200,000 homes without affordable cover, leaving owners unable to sell their properties and potentially exposing them to financial hardship.
  • (7) We have therefore been unable to confirm that SV5 may be a major intrathecal immunogen in multiple sclerosis.
  • (8) The ability of ligand to stimulate its own synthesis and that of its receptor suggests the presence of an autocrine positive feedback loop, however we were unable to break this loop in the breast cancer cells by antibodies that blocked the interaction of TGF alpha with the EGF receptor.
  • (9) The lymph node cells obtained from the animals 1 day after desensitization were unable to produce MIF in the presence of either antigen.
  • (10) It happens to anyone and everyone and this has been an 11-year battle.” Emergency services were called to the oval about 6.30pm to treat Luke for head injuries, but were unable to revive him.
  • (11) Therefore, 31P MR spectroscopy may be unable to quantify the cell fraction of a tumor that has radiobiologic hypoxia.
  • (12) A temperature-sensitive mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was identified which at the restrictive temperature of 37 degrees C is unable to secrete a number of cell wall-associated proteins and thus resembles previously reported sec mutants.
  • (13) The enzyme alone, solubilized and free from cytocrome b5 reductase and cytochrome b5, was unable to catalyze the desaturation of stearoyl CoA.
  • (14) "It will strike consumers as unfair that whilst the company is still trading, they are unable to use gift cards and vouchers," he said.
  • (15) The data suggest that the hypothalamic beta-E containing neurons were unable to adapt to nicotine's repeated effects on this system.
  • (16) Analogues of ATP were unable to reactivate K+-ATP channels even in the presence of Mg2+.
  • (17) PRL, human CG, ACTH, insulin, glucagon, and heat-inactivated TSH were unable to prevent the effect of medium replacement on dopaminergic inhibition of TSH and DA receptor binding.
  • (18) We were unable to detect IL-4 production by mononuclear cells and CD4+ T cell subsets suggesting that, if it is produced at all, IL-4 is produced in extremely small quantities.
  • (19) One elderly woman was left alone in the dark for hours unable to find food or drink.
  • (20) Inexperienced physicians are often unable to immediately identify these translucencies as air enclosures in the intracranial cavity.