agility

agility — noun

1. the skill of moving the body around fast and with good control, especially when

1.nounB2
Definition

the skill of moving the body around fast and with good control, especially when changing direction, dodging, or balancing.

Example

Noa watched the cat jump from shelf to shelf with surprising agility.

preposition: with agility

Skipping rope every morning has improved Leila's speed and agility on the basketball court.

collocation: speed and agility

Common collocations
  • physical agility
  • remarkable agility
  • speed and agility
  • lose agility
  • with surprising agility
Synonyms
  • nimbleness

    near-synonym; emphasises lightness and ease of motion

  • dexterity

    more about skilled hand or finger movement than whole-body motion

  • suppleness

    focus on flexible, bending movement rather than speed

Antonyms
  • clumsiness

    lack of control while moving, often causing accidents

  • stiffness

    physical inability to move freely

Grammar Patterns

agility of [body part]

with agility

Usage Note

Uncountable; usually paired with another physical quality (speed, strength, balance) or modified by an adjective (great, surprising, remarkable).

Common Mistakes

He has many agilities in his legs.
He has great agility in his legs.
agility is uncountable, so no plural and no 'many'.

2. the ability to take in information, work through problems, and form clear ideas

2.nounC1
Definition

the ability to take in information, work through problems, and form clear ideas at speed — for example when solving puzzles, debating, or making decisions under pressure.

Example

Chess at age ninety keeps Grandma Rosa's mental agility sharper than most teenagers'.

collocation: mental agility

The lawyer answered every tough question with an agility that left the jury impressed.

pattern: with [adjective] agility

Common collocations
  • mental agility
  • intellectual agility
  • agility of mind
  • agility of thought
Synonyms
  • sharpness

    focus on quickness and precision of thought

  • quickness

    speed of understanding; less about depth

  • acuity

    more formal; suggests keen perception and judgement

Antonyms
  • slowness

    general lack of speed in thinking

  • dullness

    lack of mental sharpness or curiosity

Grammar Patterns

mental agility

agility of mind

Usage Note

Almost always preceded by a modifier such as 'mental', 'intellectual', or 'of mind/thought' to make clear it is the thinking sense, not the body sense.

Common Mistakes

She showed agility on the maths exam.
She showed mental agility on the maths exam.
without a modifier, readers may picture physical movement.

3. a way of running a company, team, or project that builds in regular feedback and

3.nounC1
Definition

a way of running a company, team, or project that builds in regular feedback and small adjustments, so plans can shift as customer needs or market conditions change.

Example

The startup's agility let it launch a new app feature two weeks after customer complaints.

collocation: business agility (in context)

Big banks struggle with agility because every small change must pass through five committees.

Common collocations
  • business agility
  • organisational agility
  • strategic agility
  • lack of agility
Synonyms
  • flexibility

    general willingness to adjust; less tied to iterative methods

  • adaptability

    ability to adjust to new conditions; broader than agility

  • responsiveness

    speed in reacting to customers or events; outcome rather than method

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

business agility

organisational agility

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 2: this sense describes how a team or company is organised, not one person's thinking. Often capitalised as 'Agile' when referring to the formal software methodology.

Common Mistakes

Our company has an agility.
Our company has agility.
uncountable in this sense too; no article 'an' and no plural.

Word family

  • agile
    adjectiveB2
  • agilely
    adverbC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four describe smooth, controlled physical movement, but they highlight different qualities. 'Agility' covers fast whole-body motion, especially when direction changes — a footballer dodging a tackle shows agility. 'Nimbleness' overlaps but feels lighter and gentler, often used of small creatures or quick feet rather than athletic power: a squirrel is nimble; a linebacker is agile. 'Dexterity' narrows down to skilled use of the hands or fingers — a surgeon needs dexterity, not agility, when stitching a wound. 'Suppleness' is about a body that bends easily and stays flexible, more relevant to dancers and gymnasts than to sprinters. So choose 'agility' for darting movement and direction change, 'dexterity' for fine handwork, and 'suppleness' for stretchy flexibility.

agility ↗nimblenessdexteritysuppleness

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • mental agility
  • physical agility
  • lose agility
  • regain agility

Prepositions

  • with agility
  • of [body part / mind / thought]

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

From Latin 'agilitas', meaning quickness or ease of movement, built on 'agere' (to drive, to do, to act). It entered English in the late 1300s through Old French 'agilité', first describing nimble bodies and later being extended to nimble minds. The business sense is much newer, growing in the 1990s and 2000s alongside the Agile software movement, which borrowed the body-based image to argue that companies should also be light-footed and quick to change direction.