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Crossword clues for unable

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
unable
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be able/unable to cope
▪ Some young mothers feel that they aren't able to cope on their own.
be unable to bear sth
▪ Fiona was unable to bear the thought of selling the house.
be unable to resist (doing) sth
▪ He was unable to resist the temptation to smoke.
be unable to sleep
▪ He lay down but was unable to sleep.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
quite
▪ But today with his mind too preoccupied to work he seemed quite unable to keep his hands off it.
▪ She was quite unable to understand why she was not allowed to leave.
▪ But above all, I needed something that at that time I was quite unable to put into words.
▪ Word had reached her that the author was not delayed but quite unable to come.
▪ With all respect I am quite unable to concur in this reasoning.
▪ There was an air of excitement about Lady Merchiston for which her companion was quite unable to account.
▪ It seems that our collective wish for this state is so strong that we are quite unable to contemplate the opposite.
▪ He put his arm round his grieving wife, but was quite unable to speak.
still
▪ Accordingly, we are still unable to define the origin of mitochondrial introns and their distribution throughout eukaryotes.
▪ I hung up the receiver, still unable to believe that what had happened was real.
▪ The machines are still unable to plan; their routines for evaluating moves are as crude as ever.
▪ I was still in a state of numbness about what she had done, still unable to feel.
▪ Despite throwing chewing gum wrappers at stand-in boss Howard Wilkinson, he was still unable to get a game!
▪ She pulls up a stool and sits down next to us, watching intently, still unable to stifle her laughter.
▪ Jim went off for his first day at work in a mood of tender incredulity, still unable to stop smiling.
▪ He had been terrified, but still unable to stop.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But they were unable to produce perfect castings.
▪ If they don't, one should dismiss the idea of cars unable to get out of the garage as sensational rubbish-mongering.
▪ Older people were much more likely than the young to be unable to describe what they meant by health.
▪ Security of tenure also means that a landlord may be unable to regain his house, if he wishes to.
▪ Tommy, unable to read, is none the wiser.
▪ What happens when a young husband and father is suddenly unable to work because of cancer?
▪ When spot market prices rose, the utilities were unable to increase their rates.
▪ When the police proved unable to handle them, the militia was called out.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Unable

Unable \Un*a"ble\, a. Not able; not having sufficient strength, means, knowledge, skill, or the like; impotent' weak; helpless; incapable; -- now usually followed by an infinitive or an adverbial phrase; as, unable for work; unable to bear fatigue.

Sapless age and weak unable limbs.
--Shak.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
unable

late 14c., "lacking in ability, incapable," from un- (1) "not" + able (adj.). Modeled on Old French inhabile or Latin inhabilis.

Wiktionary
unable

a. Not able; lacking a certain ability.

WordNet
unable
  1. adj. (usually followed by `to') not having the necessary means or skill or know-how; "unable to get to town without a car"; "unable to obtain funds" [syn: not able] [ant: able]

  2. (usually followed by `to') lacking necessary physical or mental ability; "dyslexics are unable to learn to read adequately"; "the sun was unable to melt enough snow" [syn: unable(p)]

  3. lacking in power or forcefulness; "an ineffectual ruler"; "like an unable phoenix in hot ashes" [syn: ineffective, ineffectual]

Usage examples of "unable".

Court was unable to concede that a Georgia statute levying on inhabitants of the State a poll tax payment of which is made a prerequisite for voting but exempting females who do not register for voting, in any way abridged the right of male citizens to vote on account of their sex.

Often, the leaders and practitioners of absolutist religions were unable to perceive any middle ground or recognize that the truth might draw upon and embrace apparently contradictory doctrines.

West calmly and relentlessly, abused his daughter until she was unable to refuse.

The abused becomes so unable to confront the abuser that she can not walk out.

The artful, evocative temptation he pressed on her held her captive, unable to think, unable to actable only to feel.

I was unable to find any record of Karl Acton using the medical scanner.

Negroes who had received sentences of death for rape, and asserted that, at least in capital cases, where the defendant is unable to employ counsel and is incapable adequately of making his own defense because of ignorance, illiteracy, or the like, it is the duty of the court, whether requested or not, to assign counsel for him as a necessary requisite of due process of Law.

If he be unable to swallow, they may be administered as injections, but should gradually be discontinued as reaction takes place.

Many were too large to fit comfortably in buildings constructed on a human scale, and others, such as the Afanc and other water-dwellers, were unable to leave their own element, though they could move from Upper to Lower waters, and indeed, to other lakes and waterways in Gendival, via a network of subterranean waterways carved out by the Gaeorn long ago.

Many activities Helen was unable to join, but her affectionate disposition and eagerness to be involved made her very much a part of the class.

The pious Agaric sought to find the cause of this, but was unable to discover it until old Cornemuse revealed it to him.

I ran, carrying the cat litter box like a pizza tray, disrupting the class, causing Winnie to become highly agitato, unable to explain because I had a cigar in my mouth and was carrying a pizza tray and running for my life from men who were carrying wildly beeping receivers which made them Israeli spies and men who were wildly firing weapons which made them Arab terrorists and the whole macho parade failing to arouse or interest the girls in the slightest, which, of course, made them lesbians.

There will be times, increasingly frequent, when she is physically unable to effect her own, ahem, necessary functions.

Unable to decide where to go, Jeffrey had the man drive aimlessly around Boston.

One is confined to the island at Akasha, unable to flee for he cannot travel over running water.