enable
Americanverb (used with object)
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enables,
present (3rd person singular)
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enabled,
past participle, past
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enabling
present participle
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to make able; give power, means, competence, or ability to: Students with vision impairments are enabled in the classroom with magnifiers and screen reader software.
This document will enable him to pass through the enemy lines unmolested.
Students with vision impairments are enabled in the classroom with magnifiers and screen reader software.
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to make possible or easy.
Aeronautics enables us to overcome great distances.
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to encourage or support (the bad or dysfunctional behavior) of (someone): You enable drug users when you shield them from the consequences of their actions.
The university enabled years of abuse by ignoring complaints against the coach.
You enable drug users when you shield them from the consequences of their actions.
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Digital Technology.
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to make (a device, system, or feature) active or functional; turn on.
The automatic snapshot feature is enabled by default.
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to equip for an extended, peripheral, or premium use.
to enable your laptop for wireless internet access.
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verb
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to provide (someone) with adequate power, means, opportunity, or authority (to do something)
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to make possible
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to put (a digital electronic circuit element) into an operative condition by supplying a suitable input pulse
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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enablesimple
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enablessimple
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have enabledperfect
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has enabledperfect
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am enablingprogressive
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are enablingprogressive
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is enablingprogressive
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have been enablingperfect progressive
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has been enablingperfect progressive
Past
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enabledsimple
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had enabledperfect
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was enablingprogressive
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were enablingprogressive
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had been enablingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of enable
First recorded in 1375–1425; Middle English; see en- 1, able
Explanation
When you make something possible, you enable it. Your good grades might enable you to get into your first-choice college. And a great teacher enabled you to get such good grades. Enable has taken on the meaning of allowing or even helping someone continue to do something they really shouldn't. If your mother writes note after note to get you out of school for no good reason, she is enabling your habit of playing hooky. While you might think she's being cool, a therapist might call her an enabler and give her part of the blame.
Vocabulary lists containing enable
Vocabulary from "Community is the 'killer app' missing from virtual reality" by Dmitri Williams
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Vocabulary from the Second Presidential Debate: October 9, 2016
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Unit 1: Ecological Systems
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"Beyond fundamental importance, this discovery can enable novel planar device architectures and sensor types, such as vector magnetometry, via measuring the out-of-plane and in-plane anomalous Hall effect signals in the same device," Singh said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
"They also discussed progress on defense industrial cooperation to enable shared capacity for guided weapons and next-generation capabilities," it added.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
The club also made clear to the player they would work with Monaco to explore a solution that could still enable the transfer to be completed.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
Company officials also told investors and analysts that these steps would enable Bally’s to satisfy the liquidity and leverage requirements at issue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
He moved his ships forward to engage in battle, confident that size and might would enable them to overcome Octavian’s smaller ships.
From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby
"It enables you to reach a much firmer and deeper understanding of the underlying reasons for the problems and indeed to seek solutions that come very much from the person and their family," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
This enables local large language models to process prompts and generate responses even faster.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Dae’Quan Wright and Jack Pyburn are being courted by LSU despite NFL ties, thanks to a court ruling that enables some players to return for a fifth college season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
"It also lets us ask where genome evolution might go next and enables us to identify key measures for the conservation of animal biodiversity."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026
This is fortunate, because it enables us to measure directly the distance of these stars from us: the nearer they are, the more they appear to move.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
A breast cancer survivor says she no longer lives "with the same fear" after a clinical trial enabled her to stop the heart medication she needed following cancer treatment.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
"Nine years after Daphne's brutal assassination, the institutional failures that enabled her murder remain unaddressed and unreformed."
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
The driver needs to have video enabled for the livestream to be available.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Using financial tools such as debt and derivatives, these ETFs enabled ant investors to double their bets on Samsung and SK Hynix.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
This fact alone enabled Wall Street firms to dictate to him the market price.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
An early employee of a pioneering software development company, he became its CEO and main shareholder, enabling his major philanthropic support of international educational programs and his ambitious and informed collecting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
Meanwhile, “harnesses” refer to the process of “providing the AI model with access to non-AI software and capabilities,” thus enabling agents to execute tasks, he added.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
This week, there was a major breakthrough when DNA provided by her sister, Burks, was determined to be a match, enabling investigators to finally identify the 1995 victim as Lydia.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Peacebuilding activist Eva Khair told the Security Council that "although they have denied such allegations, external actors are enabling this catastrophe."
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
For rescuing the royal treasury and enabling Zosma to pay its army and avoid war?
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
