Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An inherent ability, as for learning; a talent. See Synonyms at ability.
- n. Quickness in learning and understanding; intelligence.
- n. The condition or quality of being suitable; appropriateness.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The state or quality of being apt or fit for or suited to a purpose, place, or situation; fitness; suitableness.
- n. A natural tendency or acquired inclination; both capacity and propensity for a certain course: as, oil has an aptitude to burn; men acquire an aptitude to particular vices.
- n. Readiness in learning; teachableness; quickness to understand and acquire; intelligence; talent.
- n. Synonyms Faculty, Capacity, etc. See genius.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A natural or acquired disposition or capacity for a particular purpose, or tendency to a particular action or effect.
- n. A general fitness or suitableness; adaptation.
- n. Readiness in learning; docility; aptness.
WordNet 3.0
- n. inherent ability
Etymologies
- From Medieval Latin aptitudo, from Latin aptus ("apt, fit"); see apt. Compare attitude, which is a doublet of aptitude. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, tendency, from Late Latin aptitūdō, aptitude, from Latin aptus, apt; see apt. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“By then, the word aptitude, implying that students were being tested for natural fitness or inborn talent, would no longer do.”
“I agree that any genetic differences in aptitude probably predated selective breeding by slave owners.”
“Now, however, "fresh research adds to the debate about gender difference in aptitude for mathematics, including efforts to explain the relative scarcity of women among professors of science, math, and engineering.”
“A study by the RAND Corporation, commissioned by the Pentagon and published in 2005, evaluated several factors that affect military performance — experience, training, aptitude, and so forth — and found that aptitude is key.”
“And in one of the first long-term aptitude studies, researchers found that preemies aren't necessarily destined for a lifetime of learning problems.”
“Making the admiration sexual rather than based on aptitude is one way to avoid recognizing the lack of said quality in himself.”
“Despite the committees 'rhetorical emphasis on scientists, the real idea was to defer a whole class of people -- those high in aptitude, no matter what their field.”
“On the other hand, MacMillan never went on to the Olympics because natural aptitude is not sufficient in itself.”
“It was interesting and Rilla discovered a certain aptitude in herself for it that surprised her.”
“In fact, Peter’s scientific aptitude is pretty much gone in this film, aside from him talking to a professor who has examined a piece of the symbiotic black suit.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘aptitude’.
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EN - fine scholarly language
exhort, accretion, twenty-nine, atrophy, additive, brilliantly, interreligious, empiricism, pathologic, limitless, half-century, vigilant and 488 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Words
phantasmagoria, eviscerate, avast, simulacrum, varicose, oblique, gestalt, ersatz, vernal, vivace, stellate, synecdoche and 330 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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apt
apt, rapt, inapt, leapt, aptitude, chapter, capture, rapture, velociraptor, captivate, captious, caption and 77 more...
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jaradgiese's Words
paronomasia, ostensible, insouciant, sobriquet, burlesque, insalubrious, apotheosis, hyperbole, connubial, felicity, florid, conurbation and 642 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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SAT vocab
abash, abdicate, abate, aberration, abhor, abject, abnegate, abortive, absolve, abstruse, accolade, accost and 175 more...
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SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
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My GRE
concomitant, mendacity, corollary, mandate, ascertain, exacerbate, substantiate, perennial, exemplify, hegemony, acrimonious, repertoire and 653 more...
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GRE
acrimony, verisimilitude, tenebrious, tenebrous, dishabille, unfettered, deplorable, woebegone, credulity, naïveté, mitigate, meliorate and 475 more...
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litigious semantics
ad unguem, abeyance, choleric, contentious, curmudgeonly, churlish, dictatorial, vindictive, dogmatic, truculent, mutinous, refractory and 254 more...
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Pleasing words
A list of miscellaneous words, fitting in no exact theme, that I happen to enjoy.
portmanteau, aesthetic, deviation, conglomerate, treachery, soluble, bildungsroman, soliloquy, irrevocable, effervescent, phrontistery, aeipathy and 180 more...
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frequent toefl
Words that I do not know or unsure for toefl
appurtenances, aptitude, arbitrary, arboretum, argot, arrears, avocation, avuncular, badger, bait, warden, bane and 428 more...
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INTERP - VOCABULARY
The vocabulary of conference interpreting. I commend this list to those who want to know more about the profession and to those who wish to organize their knowledge about the profession. To aspirin...
retour language, A-language, B-language, C-language, relay language, take sy on relay, language booth, booth meeting, mic, mike, mission, freelance interpr... and 2086 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for aptitude.
dmcleod0914 "They will judge you and your aptitude for success by your written messages."- The Readers Handbook, Catherine Stephens Ph.D, pg.385 Nov 30, 2010
brtom I seem to have been born with an aptitude for a way of life that was doomed, although I did not understand that at the time. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill" Jul 18, 2008