agility
/əˈdʒɪləti/ (bre, ipa) · /əˈdʒɪləti/ (ame, ipa) · /ə-ˈji-lə-tē/ (ame, mw)
agility — 名詞
1. the skill of moving the body around fast and with good control, especially when
敏捷；靈活
身體動作快速且能良好控制
the skill of moving the body around fast and with good control, especially when changing direction, dodging, or balancing.
Noa watched the cat jump from shelf to shelf with surprising agility.
Noa看著那隻貓以驚人的敏捷在書架之間跳躍。
preposition: with agility
Skipping rope every morning has improved Leila's speed and agility on the basketball court.
每天早上跳繩讓Leila在籃球場上的速度與敏捷度都進步了。
collocation: speed and agility
The agility of her fingers on the piano keys impressed every judge in the room.
她手指在鋼琴鍵上的靈活，讓在場每一位評審都印象深刻。
Older dogs lose some agility, so Wairimu built a low ramp for her aging spaniel.
上了年紀的狗會失去一些靈活度，所以Wairimu替她那隻老獵犬搭了一道低斜坡。
Soldiers train daily to keep the strength and agility needed for mountain rescues.
士兵每天訓練，以維持山難救援所需的力量與敏捷。
- 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
- clumsiness
lack of control while moving, often causing accidents
- stiffness
physical inability to move freely
文法句型
agility of [body part]
with agility
用法筆記
Uncountable; usually paired with another physical quality (speed, strength, balance) or modified by an adjective (great, surprising, remarkable).
常見錯誤
2. the ability to take in information, work through problems, and form clear ideas
機敏；靈敏
快速吸收訊息並清楚思考的能力
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.
Chess at age ninety keeps Grandma Rosa's mental agility sharper than most teenagers'.
九十歲還在下棋，讓Rosa奶奶的思路敏捷度勝過大多數青少年。
collocation: mental agility
The lawyer answered every tough question with an agility that left the jury impressed.
那位律師回答每個尖銳問題都展現機敏，令陪審團印象深刻。
pattern: with [adjective] agility
Crossword puzzles and language games can build agility of thought in older adults.
填字遊戲和語言遊戲能培養年長者的思路敏捷。
Her intellectual agility helped Dr. Xander spot the flaw in the data within seconds.
Xander醫師憑著思考的機敏，幾秒內就看出資料中的瑕疵。
Live debate rewards agility more than memorised speeches, so Hana practises arguing both sides.
現場辯論獎勵的是機敏，而非背稿，所以Hana練習正反兩面論述。
文法句型
mental agility
agility of mind
用法筆記
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.
常見錯誤
3. a way of running a company, team, or project that builds in regular feedback and
應變力
依需求邊做邊調整的工作方式
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.
The startup's agility let it launch a new app feature two weeks after customer complaints.
這家新創公司的應變力讓他們在客戶反映後兩週內就推出新功能。
collocation: business agility (in context)
Big banks struggle with agility because every small change must pass through five committees.
大型銀行很難具備應變力，因為任何小改動都得通過五個委員會。
After the pandemic, the CEO promised more business agility and fewer rigid five-year plans.
疫情之後，執行長承諾要更多敏捷管理，少一點僵化的五年計畫。
The software team uses short two-week sprints to maintain agility on the new payment platform.
軟體團隊以兩週為一個短衝期，維持新支付平台開發的敏捷。
Organisational agility, says the consultant, matters more than size when markets move quickly.
顧問說，當市場變動快時，組織的應變力比規模還重要。
- 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
- rigidity
fixed processes that resist change
- bureaucracy
heavy procedures that slow decisions
文法句型
business agility
organisational agility
用法筆記
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.