Showing results for "enabling"

• present participle of enable.

enabling

American  

[en-ey-bling] / ɛnˈeɪ blɪŋ /

adjective

Law.

1. conferring additional legal powers or capacities, especially by removing a barrier to action, suspending required permission, or relaxing oversight: enabling power.

   an enabling act;

   enabling power.

---

Etymology

Origin of enabling

First recorded in 1670–80; enable + -ing ²

Explanation

Enabling is a term used for laws that confer legal powers to someone or something. An enabling act makes it possible for authorities to take action. One meaning of the verb enable is "to provide with legal powers," so the adjective formed by adding -ing gets used to describe legislation that has that empowering effect. When new American states were formed out of frontier territories, they could either organize statehood themselves, or they could be admitted into the Union through an "enabling act" of Congress.

Example Sentences

"Enabling children to remain with peers and avoid unnecessary transitions could be beneficial," he says.

From BBC • Feb. 24, 2026

In Germany, this was called the Enabling Act; in Italy, it was the Acerbo Law.

From Salon • Feb. 12, 2025

The construction is for work on the Roadway and Utility Enabling project.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2024

Enabling data mining on a broad scale will also require getting more authors and publishers to adopt non-PDF formats that help machines efficiently digest a paper’s contents.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 21, 2023

He did so immediately: in 1933, less than five months after the passage of the Enabling Act, the Nazis enacted the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring—commonly known as the Sterilization Law.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• permissive