Skill

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

Skill, n. [Icel. skil a distinction, discernment; akin to skilja to separate, divide, distinguish, Sw. skilja,. skille to separate, skiel reason, right, justice, Sw. skäl reason, Lith. skelli to cleave. Cf. Shell, Shoal, a multitude.].

•  Discrimination; judgment; propriety; reason; cause.  [1913 Webster]

  "For great skill is, he prove that he wrought."  [1913 Webster]
•  Knowledge; understanding.  [1913 Webster]

  "That by his fellowship he color might
  Both his estate and love from skill of any wight."  [1913 Webster]

  "Nor want we skill or art."  [1913 Webster]
•  The familiar knowledge of any art or science, united with readiness and dexterity in execution or performance, or in the application of the art or science to practical purposes; power to discern and execute; ability to perceive and perform; expertness; aptitude; as, the skill of a mathematician, physician, surgeon, mechanic, etc.  [1913 Webster]

  "Phocion, . . . by his great wisdom and skill at negotiations, diverted Alexander from the conquest of Athens."  [1913 Webster]

  "Where patience her sweet skill imparts."  [1913 Webster]
•  Display of art; exercise of ability; contrivance; address.  [1913 Webster]

  "Richard . . . by a thousand princely skills, gathering so much corn as if he meant not to return."  [1913 Webster]
•  Any particular art.  [1913 Webster]

  "Learned in one skill, and in another kind of learning unskillful."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Dexterity; adroitness; expertness; art; aptitude; ability.

Skill, v. t. 

 To know; to understand.  [1913 Webster]
"To skill the arts of expressing our mind."  [1913 Webster]

Skill, v. i. 

•  To be knowing; to have understanding; to be dexterous in performance.  [1913 Webster]

  "I can not skill of these thy ways."  [1913 Webster]
•  To make a difference; to signify; to matter; -- used impersonally.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

  "What skills it, if a bag of stones or gold
  About thy neck do drown thee?"  [1913 Webster]

  "It skills not talking of it."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Skill, n. (often foll. by in) expertness, practised ability, facility in an action; dexterity or tact.

Derivative

skill-less adj. (archaic skilless).

Etymology

ME f. ON skil distinction

THESAURUS

Skill

Mnemosyne, ability, accomplishment, adeptness, adroitness, affect memory, anterograde memory, aptitude, art, artistry, ascendancy, atavism, capability, cleverness, collective memory, command, computer memory, craft, cunning, deanship, deftness, dexterity, dexterousness, disk memory, drum memory, ease, emotional response, engram, excellence, experience, expertise, expertism, expertness, facility, faculty, favor, finesse, forte, gift, greatness, handiness, incomparability, information storage, ingenuity, inimitability, kinesthetic memory, knack, know-how, lead, majority, mastership, mastery, mechanics, mechanism, memory, memory bank, memory circuit, memory trace, method, mind, mneme, one-upmanship, precedence, predominance, predomination, preeminence, preponderance, prepotence, prepotency, prerogative, prestige, priority, privilege, proficiency, prowess, quickness, race memory, readiness, recollection, remembrance, right-of-way, science, screen memory, seniority, skillfulness, sleight, souvenir, strength, success, superiority, talent, tape memory, technic, technical know-how, technical knowledge, technical skill, technics, technique, technology, transcendence, transcendency, verbal response, virtuosity, visual memory

ROGET THESAURUS

Skill

Skill

N skill, skillfulness, address, dexterity, dexterousness, adroitness, expertness, proficiency, competence, technical competence, craft, callidity, facility, knack, trick, sleight, mastery, mastership, excellence, panurgy, ambidexterity, ambidextrousness, sleight of hand, seamanship, airmanship, marksmanship, horsemanship, rope-dancing, accomplishment, acquirement, attainment, art, science, technicality, technology, practical knowledge, technical knowledge, knowledge of the world, world wisdom, savoir faire, tact, mother wit, discretion, finesse, craftiness, management, self-help, cleverness, talent, ability, ingenuity, capacity, parts, talents, faculty, endowment, forte, turn, gift, genius, intelligence, sharpness, readiness, invention, aptness, aptitude, turn for, capacity for, genius for, felicity, capability, curiosa felicitas, qualification, habilitation, proficient, masterpiece, coup de maitre, chef d'euvre, tour de force, good stroke, skillful, dexterous, adroit, expert, apt, handy, quick, deft, ready, gain, slick, smart, proficient, good at, up to, at home in, master of, a good hand at, au fait, thoroughbred, masterly, crack, accomplished, conversant, experienced, practiced, skilled, hackneyed, up in, well up in, in practice, in proper cue, competent, efficient, qualified, capable, fitted, fit for, up to the mark, trained, initiated, prepared, primed, finished, clever, cute, able, ingenious, felicitous, gifted, talented, endowed, inventive, shrewd, sharp, on the ball, cunning, alive to, up to snuff, not to be caught with chaff, discreet, neat-handed, fine-fingered, nimble-fingered, ambidextrous, sure- footed, cut out for, fitted for, technical, artistic, scientific, daedalian, shipshape, workman- like, business-like, statesman-like, skillfully, well, artistically, with skill, with consummate skill, secundum artem, suo Marte, to the best of one's abilities, ars celare artem, artes honorabit, celui qui veut celui-la peut, c'est une grande habilite que de savoir cacher son, expertus metuit, es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille sich ein C, heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, or the hand to execute, if you have lemons, make lemonade.