skill
Pluralskills
Pluralskills
Formsskills, skilling, skilled
- 1Something you can do well, usually because you learned or practiced it.
Like a tool you build over time: the more you use it, the better it gets.
Public speaking takes real skill and lots of practice.
She learned the skill of baking bread from her grandmother.
UsageSay skill at or in something, or the skill to do it.
Similarability
Oppositeincompetence, ineptitude
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- 2A display of art or ability, or a clever plan or trick.
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- 3To spend points you earned to unlock or improve abilities in a game.
Like spending coins to buy new moves for your game character.
I always skill healing first so my team stays alive.
I skilled into healing magic early in the game.
UsageGamers skill an ability, or skill into a type of power.
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Less common meanings
- 4
- 5Knowledge or understanding of something.
And Howell Dha shall goodly well indew The salvage minds with skill of just and trew;
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie QueeneHere, skill means knowledge or understanding.'I kenna whatna man ye are,' he says, 'but ye have the skill of lassies' hearts. Tell me truly, is there no way to win her to common love?'
1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the TideHere, skill means knowledge or understanding of something.Note
- 6Good judgment or reason.
Him so I sought, and so at last I fownd Where him that witch had thralled to her will, In chaines of lust and lewde desyres ybownd And so transformed from his former skill, That me he knew not, nether his owne ill;
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie QueeneHere, skill means good judgment or reason.Note
- 7To know or understand something (an old or local use).
- 8To matter, or to make a difference to something.
But it skills not talking of it.
1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance.Here, skills means matters, so it does no good talking of it.What skills it, if a bag of stones or gold About thy neck do drown thee?
1633, George Herbert, “The Church Porch”Note
- 9To set something apart and separate it from the rest.
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Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
It comes from Old Norse "skil," meaning a distinction or knowledge, through Middle English.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Skill comes from Old Norse skil through Middle English; the Old Norse word meant distinction or knowledge. en.wiktionary.org
This verb comes partly from Old English "scilian" and partly from Old Norse "skilja," both meaning to separate or divide.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The verb skill derives partly from Old English scilian and partly from Old Norse skilja; both mean to separate or divide. en.wiktionary.org