abled

Pluralableds

1. 1
   adjectivein compounds

   Having a range of physical powers of the kind specified by an accompanying word.

   The charity tailors its services for differently abled members of the community.

   The coach grouped the more abled athletes with beginners for mentoring.

   Oppositedisabled

   Note

   A word that seldom stands alone: it takes a qualifier in front that says which powers, or how much, as in differently abled or more abled. It was formed backward from disabled by stripping the prefix, so it presents itself as the positive counterpart of the older word. Its comparative and superlative are built with more and most.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   Among disabled people, a person who has no disability.

   Ableds rarely notice the everyday barriers that wheelchair users deal with.

   The meetup was a rare evening away from the abled, just people who understood each other's bodies.

   Note

   Insider vocabulary: disabled people use it to name those outside their experience, turning the familiar labeling around. It shares its back-formed origin with the combining adjective, but here it stands alone as a noun, often plural (ableds) or collective (the abled). Laura Erickson-Schroth's Trans Bodies, Trans Selves shows its plain, in-group tone. Readers outside those communities may not recognize it.

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of able. The verb is archaic; enabled is the usual word today.

   Note

   Two unrelated words share this spelling. This one is the regular -ed form of the verb able, not the adjective back-formed from disabled. Every sense of that verb is obsolete: to make ready, to enable, to dress, to vouch for. As a verb, then, abled belongs to older English. It is always transitive and takes a direct object, as in abled them to act.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3