(v. t.) Among the ancient Greeks, a weight and a denomination of money equal to 60 minae or 6,000 drachmae. The Attic talent, as a weight, was about 57 lbs. avoirdupois; as a denomination of silver money, its value was £243 15s. sterling, or about $1,180.
(v. t.) Among the Hebrews, a weight and denomination of money. For silver it was equivalent to 3,000 shekels, and in weight was equal to about 93/ lbs. avoirdupois; as a denomination of silver, it has been variously estimated at from £340 to £396 sterling, or about $1,645 to $1,916. For gold it was equal to 10,000 gold shekels.
(v. t.) Inclination; will; disposition; desire.
(v. t.) Intellectual ability, natural or acquired; mental endowment or capacity; skill in accomplishing; a special gift, particularly in business, art, or the like; faculty; a use of the word probably originating in the Scripture parable of the talents (Matt. xxv. 14-30).
Example Sentences:
(1) The greatest stars who emerged from the early talent shows – Frank Sinatra, Gladys Knight, Tony Bennett – were artists with long careers.
(2) The talent base in the UK – not just producers and actors but camera and sound – is unparalleled, so I think creativity will continue unabated.” Lee does recognise “massive” cultural differences between the US and UK.
(3) He is a leader and helps manage the defence, while Pablo Armero can be a bit of a loose cannon but he is certainly a talented player.
(4) Cape no longer has the monopoly on talent; the stars are scattered these days, and Franklin's "fantastically discriminating" deputy Robin Robertson can take credit for many recent triumphs, including their most recent Booker winner, Anne Enright.
(5) Perhaps there were some other generations in Portuguese football with more talent, but they didn’t win.
(6) They were preceded by the publication of The Success and Failure of Picasso (1965) and Art and Revolution: Ernst Neizvestny and the Role of the Artist in the USSR (1969); in one, he made a hopeless mess of Picasso’s later career, though he was not alone in this; in the other, he elevated a brave dissident artist beyond his talents.
(7) She expressed her condolences to Winehouse's parents, Mitch and Janis, who did not attend the inquest, marking the loss of "a talented woman at such a young age".
(8) Britain's Got Talent had an average of 10.6 million (44%) for the fourth series opener last year and 10.3 million (45%) in 2009.
(9) His coding talent attracted attention early: a music-recommendation program he wrote as a teenager brought approaches from both Microsoft and AOL.
(10) Top 10 Arpad Cseh Senior investment director, UBS Alice La Trobe Weston Executive director, head of European credit research, MSIM Morgan Stanley Katie Garrett Executive director, senior engineer, Goldman Sachs Alix Ainsley, Charlotte Cherry H R director, group operations (job share), Lloyds Banking Group Matt Dawson Director for business development, The Instant Group Angela Kitching, Hannah Pearce Head of external affairs (job share), Age UK Morwen Williams Head of newsgathering operations, BBC Georgina Faulkner Head of Sky multisports, Sky Maggie Stilwell Managing partner for talent, UK & Ireland, EY Sarah Moore Partner, PwC
(11) Treasury secretary Tim Geithner called her an "exceptional talent" whose broad experience would "provide invaluable leadership for this indispensable institution at a critical time for the global economy".
(12) The entire point of encouraging social mobility is that people have different talents and we need to do better at ensuring they make the most of them.
(13) The new arrangements put more emphasis on elected members, but he says they do not have the talents to take on the job.
(14) I love showcasing my talents – not only to my hometown fans and my own team but to the world.
(15) FWA chairman Andy Dunn said: "Those members who have been fortunate enough to be working at a match involving Luis Suárez have witnessed an astonishing talent first-hand.
(16) GROUP A FRANCE The hosts can call on their most talented group of players for a decade, with an exciting young generation featuring Raphaël Varane, Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann and Anthony Martial.
(17) We’ve both inherited our great good fortune through no skills or talents of our own.
(18) But the challenge facing Galliano is not simply to convince the fashion industry of his talent, which is still evident.
(19) From the shallow pool of talent to the lack of a definable playing style and questions over whether they can handle the step up from qualification to tournament football, this is now England.
(20) As a precociously talented young artist, his interests didn't lie with landscape or the countryside – "though I did collect frog spawn and things like that" – but more with the advertising, posters and signwriting he saw around town.
Wannabe
Definition:
Example Sentences:
(1) Urban hives boom could be 'bad for bees' What happened: Two professors from a University of Sussex laboratory are urging wannabe-urban beekeepers to consider planting more flowers instead of taking up the increasingly popular hobby.
(2) Just after Louise Mensch asked Rupert Murdoch if he'd considered resigning over phone hacking, she received the sort of email that would chill the blood of any wannabe government minister.
(3) Despite the best efforts of Moore and the other wannabes in Hackney North, Abbott doubled her majority at this latest election.
(4) Craig looked out of place in this awkward wannabe blockbuster.
(5) For the wannabe, a state of uncertainty is a constant supply of publicity, delivering more attention for every speech they make.
(6) If, as many believe, a decision on Europe is Cameron’s parting gift to his party, it is the relationship between the press and his wannabe successors which could be more interesting.
(7) She isn't the first wannabe pop girl with intimations of "edge" and "darkness" in her songs to emerge this year , although she might be the last (hello, it's November), but the question is: does she bring anything new to the feisty, lusty-voiced electro-girl genre?
(8) Adele’s appearance at the beginning of this year, belting her way through her hits and even the Spice Girls’ Wannabe and a Nicky Minaj rap, has been watched by more than 110 million people online, around 100 times the number who watch Corden’s Late, Late Show.
(9) When Adele starred in a rainy London “home for the holidays” edition, she downed a cuppa in one gulp, discussed #squadgoals, rapped Nicki Minaj’s Monster and paid homage to the Spice Girls by busting out Wannabe.
(10) The good news is that you don't have to travel to southern California to get a taste of 2014's blockbuster wannabes: a slew of trailers that debuted inside the San Diego Convention Centre 's gargantuan Hall H have now hit the web – and there's no need to dress up like Xena the warrior princess to watch them.
(11) "You can't just make good art these days," is his parting bit of advice to all those Aphex wannabes out there.
(12) In the soap opera of French political eccentrics, few are as colourful and controversial as Tapie: a rags-to-riches businessman who began as a failed popstar and wannabe racing driver, hosted TV shows, became a minister under François Mitterrand, owned Olympique de Marseille football club but then served time in jail for match-fixing, and finally reinvented himself as actor and now press baron, recently buying the newspaper La Provence.
(13) Every day, bands blow up through social media, YouTube stars emerge , bloggers sign book deals and wannabes strive for their big virtual break.
(14) At which point, the righteous rage against big business conveniently diverts towards these moronic corporate wannabes and their tragic, gibbering claims to be “the next Richard Branson”.
(15) The antics of wannabe rockstar Frankie Cocozza, who left the show after breaking a "golden rule", sparked the most ire among viewers.
(16) People might like the sound of internment for all suspected terror sympathisers, as suggested by Ukip’s energy spokesman (as well as by Katie Hopkins wannabe Allison Pearson of the Telegraph) – unless they remember how imprisonment without trial turbo-charged recruitment to the IRA and delayed peace for years.
(17) She wasn't just some hapless wannabe, yet another pissed-up nit who was never gonna make it, nor was she even a ten-a-penny-chanteuse enjoying her fifteen minutes.
(18) An updated religion section would read: "If you ticked Islam, please tick the box that best describes you: a) moderate (ie charter signatory) b) I <3 Sharia c) Brody wannabe.
(19) For the rest, it is yet another iPhone wannabe: it is too small, its multi-touch interface is too slow on the uptake and the whole experience is rather fiddly.
(20) Still, their English beats Pearson's Harvard-wannabe management-speak.