Standard Lemma guide

versatility

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • vûr′sə-tĭl′ĭ-tē
  • Australian, Received-Pronunciation: /ˌvɜː.səˈtɪl.ɪ.tiː/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, General-American: /ˌvɜɹ.səˈtɪl.ɪ.ti/
  • New-Zealand: /ˌvøː.səˈtəl.ə.tiː/
  • Scotland: /ˌvɛɹ.səˈtɪl.ɪ.ti/
  • rhymes with -ɪlɪti
  • CMU ARPABET: V ER2 S AH0 T IH1 L AH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The property of being versatile or having many different abilities.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: versatileness, flexibility

Antonyms: unversatility

2

noun

Meaning 2

having a wide variety of skills

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: skillfulness

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English versatile Proto-Indo-European *-teh2 Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh2ts Latin -itāsder. Old French -itebor. Middle English -ite English -ity English versatility From versatile + -ity.

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: многостранност (mnogostrannost) — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Catalan: versatilitat — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Dutch: veelzijdigheid — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Finnish: monipuolisuus — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • French: polyvalence — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Galician: versatilidade — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Georgian: მრავალმხრივობა (mravalmxrivoba) — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Georgian: მრავალფეროვნება (mravalperovneba) — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Georgian: მრავალფუნქციონალურობა (mravalpunkcionaluroba) — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • German: Vielseitigkeit — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • German: Einsatzvielfalt — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • German: vielseitige Anwendbarkeit — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • German: Flexibilität — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • German: Gewandtheit — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Interlingua: versatilitate — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Irish: ilfheidhmeacht — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Irish: ilúsáideacht — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Irish: ilchumas — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Irish: ildánacht — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Italian: versatilità — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Macedonian: сестраност (sestranost) — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Macedonian: многустраност (mnogustranost) — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Polish: uniwersalność — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Polish: wszechstronność — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Portuguese: versatilidade — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Russian: многосторонность (mnogostoronnostʹ) — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Russian: разносторонность (raznostoronnostʹ) — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Spanish: versatilidad — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Swedish: mångsidighet — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Swedish: ombytlighet — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
  • Swedish: flexibilitet — the property of being versatile or having many different abilities
Real reading context

versatility in complete knowledge articles