talent
noun
Origin of talent
synonym study for talent
Words nearby talent
VOCAB BUILDER
What does talent mean?
Talent is an exceptional natural ability, especially in a particular activity, such as music.
Talent is often thought of as the kind of ability that comes without training—something that you’re born with. It is often contrasted with skill, which is an ability acquired and developed through practice. It can also be used to refer to people who are talented (which is the adjective form of talent).
Example: She was a prodigy whose musical talent was obvious from a young age—she started playing the piano at the age of 2.
Where does talent come from?
Talent goes back to at least the 900s. It derives from the Greek tálanton, which referred to a unit of money or weight. At some point in its history, the meaning of talent evolved from “money” to “ability.” This change is thought to have been strongly influenced by a passage from the New Testament of the Bible often called the “Parable of the Talents.” In this story from the Gospel of Matthew, a rich guy entrusts his servants with his talents (money) while he’s away. Two of the servants invest the money and make him a profit, but a third servant just buries it and returns it when the boss gets back. The talents in the story are widely interpreted as representing natural abilities, with the moral being that you should use your abilities for good instead of hiding them.
Relatedly, talent is often described as God-given, which is another way of saying that talent is something that someone’s born with. A lot of people see this as being different from skill, which you have to work for. For example, a person might be said to have musical talent because they find it easy to learn the skill of playing an instrument. However, the two words are often used in much the same way, especially since any talent can be improved through practice.
Talent is often used in phrases that specify the type of talent, as in athletic talent, musical talent, and a talent for cooking. Talent can be used with an article (a, an, or the), as in a talent for fixing things, or without one, as in You’ve got talent.
Talent is also used to refer to a talented person, as in He’s a major talent in the field, or to refer to a group of talented people collectively, as in This event features international talent. More specifically, it can refer to actors or the people who appear on screen in some kind of production, as in We can’t start filming until the talent arrives.
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What are some other forms related to talent?
- talented (adjective)
What are some synonyms for talent?
What are some words that share a root or word element with talent?
What are some words that often get used in discussing talent?
How is talent used in real life?
Talent is often used in discussion of abilities that people consider to occur naturally in a person. For this reason, talent is often contrasted with skill.
Watching the National Youth Orchestra of the USA on BBC proms. Amazing musical talent at such a young age. Inspiring!
— Tom Read (@tom_read) July 26, 2013
hey artists: use your talent for good. draw stuff for yourself. appreciate this gift you have and don't stop doing what you do
— ✨ vintage ✨ (@vintagecoyote) May 18, 2017
Kenny Atkinson was an absolute delight for us to deal with. Always kind and engaging. Such an easy guy to root for. What he did to help transform the culture in Brooklyn & develop young talent will benefit the organization for a very very long time.
— Ryan Ruocco (@RyanRuocco) March 7, 2020
Try using talent!
True or false?
Talent and skill are opposites and they are never used in the same way.