Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Aptitude

1. A natural or acquired disposition or capacity for a particular purpose, or tendency to a particular action or effect; as, oil has an aptitude to burn. He seems to have had a peculiar aptitude for the management of irregular troops. (Macaulay)

2. A general fitness or suitableness; adaptation. That sociable and helpful aptitude which god implanted between man and woman. (Milton)

3. Readiness in learning; docility; aptness. He was a boy of remarkable aptitude. (Macaulay)

Origin: f. Aptitude, LL. Aptitudo, fr. L. Aptus. See apt, and cf. Attitude.