talent

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

n. gift, faculty, ability, power; turn, knack, aptitude; genius. See skill.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [A gift]

Syn. aptitude, faculty, gift, genius, facility, skill, capability, expertise, inventiveness, turn, forte, knack*; see also ability 1 , 2 .

2. [*A famous person]

Syn. celebrity, notable, find*; see star 3 .

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 ]

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

gift, endowment, natural ability, innate ability, *God-given talent, genius, knack, flair, aptitude, facility, bent, capability, expertise, faculty. ''Each man has his vocation. Talent is the call.''—Ralph Waldo Emerson. ''To do easily what is difficult for others.''—Henry Amiel. ''Like a grain of pearl sand shifting about in the creative mind. A valued tormentor.''—Truman Capote.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun An innate capability: aptitude, aptness, bent, faculty, flair, genius, gift, head, instinct, knack, turn. See ABILITY, APPROACH.