What is polymorphism?

Concept: Polymorphism (poly = many, morph = form) is the OOP principle that lets the SAME interface or method call produce different behavior depending on the actual (runtime) type of the object invoking it — one operation, many forms.

Application: Applying this definition to the options given, “the ability to take more than one form” is exactly this many-forms behavior, so it correctly identifies polymorphism.

Why the others don’t fit:

• “Ability to encapsulate data” describes encapsulation — bundling data with the methods that operate on it and restricting direct access — a data-hiding idea, not behavior varying by type.

• “Ability to inherit methods” describes inheritance — reusing or extending a parent class’s members in a child class — a code-reuse relationship, not multiple forms of the same call.

• “Ability to create abstract classes” describes abstraction — defining a template/contract without full implementation — a design-hiding idea, not many-forms behavior.