a special natural ability or aptitude:
a talent for drawing.
2. a capacity for achievement or success; ability:
young men of talent.
3. a talented person:
The cast includes many of the theater's major talents.
4. a group of persons with special ability:
an exhibition of watercolors by the local talent.
5. professional actors collectively, especially star performers.
6. a power of mind or body cons
idered as given to a person for use and improvement: so called from the parable in Matt. 25:14–30.
7. any of various ancient units of weight, as a unit of Palestine and Syria equal to 3000 shekels, or a unit of Greece equal to 6000 drachmas.
8. any of various ancient Hebrew or Attic monetary units equal in value to that of a talent weight of gold, silver, or other metal.
9. inclination or disposition. Examples from the web for talent
The ability to write about science, either in a published paper or a text book, is a rare talent indeed. Such benefits signal the importance of diversity and maintain universities' ability to recruit from global talent pools. The universities have said that the bill could hamper their ability to recruit and retain top faculty talent. And even if this did demonstrate true psychic ability, it seems to be a useless and destructive talent. They wine and dine the best and brightest students, siphoning future leaders off the top of the talent pool. Now the government is trying to attract them back, and to encourage younger talent to consider a scientific career. We've got a fantastic technical crew and on-camera talent. Indeed, this talent makes it indispensable to all living things. Being able to read silently to yourself was considered an amazing talent. But the real talent inside the bun was the big, fat, juicy portabella. innate ability, aptitude, or faculty, esp when unspecified; above average ability: a talent for cooking, a child with talent
2. a person or persons possessing such ability
3. any of various ancient units of weight and money
4. (informal) members of the opposite sex collectively, esp those living in a particular place: the local talent
5. an obsolete word for inclination
Word Origin
Old English talente, from Latin talenta, pl of talentum sum of money, from Greek talanton unit of money or weight; in Medieval Latin the sense was extended to ability through the influence of the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30)
Word Origin and History for talent
n. late 13c., "inclination, disposition, will, desire," from Old French talent, from Medieval Latin talenta, plural of talentum "inclination, leaning, will, desire" (1098), in classical Latin "balance, weight, sum of money," from Greek talanton "balance, weight, sum," from PIE *tel-, *tol- "to bear, carry" (see extol ). Originally an ancient unit of weight or money (varying greatly and attested in Old English as talente), the Medieval Latin and common Romanic sense developed from figurative use of the word in the sense of "money." Meaning "special natural ability, aptitude," developed mid-14c., from the parable of the talents in Matt. Related: Talented. talent in the Bible
of silver contained 3,000 shekels (Ex. 38:25, 26), and was equal to 94 3/7 lbs. avoirdupois. The Greek talent, however, as in the LXX., was only 82 1/4 lbs. It was in the form of a circular mass, as the Hebrew name _kikkar_ denotes. A talent of gold was double the weight of a talent of silver (2 Sam. 12:30). Parable of the talents (Matt. 18:24; 25:15).
