enable
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪˈneɪbəl/
note: Indic
ipa: /ɛˈnebɪl/
rhymes: -eɪbəl
Forms: form: enables
form: enabling
form: enabled
form: enabled
Etymology: From Middle English enablen, equivalent to en- + able.
Senses: examples: text: And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy i:12:
synonyms: empower
endow
glosses: To make somebody able (to do, or to be, something); to give sufficient ability or power to do or to be; to give strength or ability to.
glosses: To affirm; to make firm and strong.
examples: text: This was widely interpreted to mean that slavery was once more firmly illegal in England. However, the "positive law" mentioned–i.e., a direct law specifically enabling slavery–existed in many British colonies (although not all), since these colonies had a degree of freedom to write their own law apart from that of the home country.
ref: 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 3:21 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2024:
synonyms: let
permit
authorize
glosses: To qualify or approve for some role or position; to render sanction or authorization to; to confirm suitability for.
examples: text: Temperance gives Nature her full play, and enables her to exert herself in all her force and vigor.
ref: 1711 October 24 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “SATURDAY, October 13, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 195; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 506:
text: April 16, 2018, Norimitsu Onishi and Selam Gebrekidan writing in The New York Times, ‘They Eat Money’: How Mandela’s Political Heirs Grow Rich Off Corruption
text: Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
ref: 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:
text: Trainers of modern athletes monitor performance by using high tech equipment and biometric bodysuits with embedded sensors to enable detailed analysis of movement, balance, efficiency for athletic performance.
ref: 2009, Meribeth A. Dayme, Dynamics of the Singing Voice, Springer Science & Business Media, page 174:
text: During 1971-72, spare Type 4s on other regions enabled the whole class to be sidelined, with Class 43s going first.
ref: 2022 January 12, David Clough, “From Germany with love: a Warship retrospective”, in RAIL, number 948, page 49:
synonyms: allow
glosses: To yield the opportunity or provide the possibility for something; to provide with means, opportunities, and the like.
examples: text: His parents enabled him to go on buying drugs.
glosses: To imply or tacitly confer excuse for an action or a behavior.
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: To put a circuit element into action by supplying a suitable input pulse.
topics: business
computing
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
sciences
synonyms: activate
turn on
antonyms: disable
glosses: To activate, to make operational (especially of a function of an electronic or mechanical device).
Derived terms: disenable
enablable
enablement
enabler
reënable
re-enable
reenable