ADJ
considerable, enormous, exceptional, extraordinary, formidable, genuine, great, major, outstanding, prodigious, rare, real, remarkable, special, tremendous, undoubted, unique
God-given, inborn, innate, natural, raw
She has a natural talent for music and learned to play piano without formal lessons.
hidden, undiscovered | mediocre
fresh, new
The theater director discovered fresh talent at the auditions last week.
young | precocious
home-grown, local
The small theater company discovered amazing local talent and built their success on it.
top
The company hired several top talents from competing firms to strengthen its design department.
acting, artistic, creative, literary, managerial, musical, scientific, vocal, writing
VERB + TALENT
have, possess
My daughter possesses a real talent for music and started learning piano at age five.
demonstrate, display, reveal, show
flaunt, show off
She couldn't resist showing off her musical talent whenever guests came over.
direct, redirect, turn
After years of playing football, he directed his talent toward coaching young players.
discover, recognize, spot, unearth
The coach discovered a remarkable talent in the young swimmer during the regional championships.
build (on), cultivate, develop, harness, make the most of, nurture, realize, tap, use, utilize
She spent years nurturing her daughter's musical talent through weekly piano lessons.
squander, waste
She didn't want to squander her musical talent by giving up lessons.
TALENT + VERB
lie
His natural talent lies in working with children and making them feel comfortable.
TALENT + NOUN
scout, spotter | competition, contest, show
PREP
of ~
She discovered she was a musician of real talent when she won the competition at sixteen.
with/without ~
She was hired by the orchestra because of her natural talent for playing the violin.
~ for
She discovered a real talent for making people laugh at her jokes.
PHRASES
a man/woman, etc. of many talents, a pool of talent
The company recruited several young engineers from a large pool of talent in the tech industry.
a wealth of talent
The company discovered a wealth of talent at the university career fair last spring.