Meaning & use
natural ability
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A skill or talent that someone has from birth rather than through training.
Grammar: Countable: use 'a natural ability' for one talent and 'natural abilities' for several.
Patterns
- a natural ability for something
- a natural ability to do something
- have natural ability
- show natural ability
She has a natural ability for languages and learned Italian in a few months.
His natural ability to stay calm under pressure makes him a good surgeon.
Even as a child he showed natural ability in mathematics.
noununcountable
This kind of talent considered as a general quality rather than one particular skill.
Grammar: Uncountable in this general sense: 'natural ability' alone, with no article.
Patterns
- natural ability
- a lot of natural ability
Natural ability helps, but daily practice matters more in the long run.
The coach said the young player had plenty of natural ability but needed discipline.
Word forms
| plural | natural abilities |
|---|
Common combinations
- have a natural ability for
- She has a natural ability for drawing faces.
- show natural ability
- He showed natural ability from his very first lesson.
- a natural ability to do something
- Her natural ability to remember names impresses everyone.
- raw natural ability
- The scouts were looking for raw natural ability rather than polished technique.
Synonyms and how they differ
- talent
- Very close, but talent often suggests ability that has already been noticed or developed, while natural ability stresses that it was there from the start.
- gift
- More informal and warmer; a gift sounds like something special you were given, whereas natural ability is a plainer description.
- aptitude
- A formal word used in education and work contexts, often for the potential to learn a skill rather than skill already present.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: natural ability or natural skill?
natural ability vs natural skill
'Natural skill' is understandable but less common; the usual fixed phrase is 'natural ability' or simply 'talent'.
Practice
Which sentence is correct?
Choose one answer.
The usual pattern is 'a natural ability for' plus an activity, or 'a natural ability to' plus the base verb. 'In playing' and 'of playing' do not fit, and after 'to' we need the base form, not '-ing'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “natural ability”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.