Does gifted education affect societal inequality, and does societal inequality suppress and/ordistort the development of high ability? Drawing from several academic disciplines and current political discourse, a differentiated use of terms used to describe the highly able is explored in this article. A social evolutionary framework is proposed as an explanation for such differentiation, which also sheds light on the questions of inequality, suppression, and distortion in relation to high ability. It is suggested that this differentiated use is prompted and defined by societal function rather than by current theories of high ability. The result of employing a socialevolutionary perspective is that high ability as giftedness becomes largely dysfunctional and unwanted, whereas high ability as talent becomes more utilitarian and much in demand. The article concludes with a brief discussion on the possible future of gifted education in this light.