enable
Americanverb (used with object)
-
enables,
present (3rd person singular)
-
enabled,
past participle, past
-
enabling
present participle
-
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.
-
to make possible or easy.
Aeronautics enables us to overcome great distances.
-
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.
-
Digital Technology.
-
to make (a device, system, or feature) active or functional; turn on.
The automatic snapshot feature is enabled by default.
-
to equip for an extended, peripheral, or premium use.
to enable your laptop for wireless internet access.
-
verb
-
to provide (someone) with adequate power, means, opportunity, or authority (to do something)
-
to make possible
-
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
-
enablesimple
-
enablessimple
-
have enabledperfect
-
has enabledperfect
-
am enablingprogressive
-
are enablingprogressive
-
is enablingprogressive
-
have been enablingperfect progressive
-
has been enablingperfect progressive
Past
-
enabledsimple
-
had enabledperfect
-
was enablingprogressive
-
were enablingprogressive
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Vocabulary from the Second Presidential Debate: October 9, 2016
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Unit 1: Ecological Systems
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
The leading contributor, as my colleague Queenie Wong has reported, is Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who claims to have moved out of the state, which might enable him to avoid the tax.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
To power Pearl Planner, David’s built its own agentic AI orchestration system with a knowledge graph at its core to enable a personalized experience for each user.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
"I think the institutional regulatory and policy case needs to catch up quickly to protect and enhance our women's players and enable them to perform maximally."
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
The spectrum that SpaceX just said it plans to acquire from Grain Management wouldn’t actually enable the company to build a nationwide network.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 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
As Beethoven does in his violin concerto, Bruch uses virtuosic passagework only insofar as it enables us to better know the melody.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Automation enables "inquiries that were not previously possible; it transforms the conditions of research."
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
It also enables researchers to explore two potential therapeutic approaches designed to interfere with aggregation.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
"What we want is that once that information is shared, the knowledge about that then enables them to have a dignified process," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Study after study around the world has shown that singing enables infants to train their brains and memories, to recognise pitch differentiation as a preparation for the full development of spatial awareness.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
The chip manufacturer said Wednesday that Japan would provide the investment, which it said was enabled by President Trump’s trade-and-investment agreement with the country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
What began as a technical workaround ultimately enabled the researchers to explore a more interesting version of the phenomenon, one in which matter and the field could participate together in the quantum dynamics.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
This was ignored, then overtake mode was reactivated before being disabled again, on the basis that it was fairer to do so than leave it enabled.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Chemists have long wondered how that process occurs, and the two Nobel laureates' discoveries have "enabled chemists to drive chemical reactions that lead to homochirality", the jury said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
The new prosperity enabled Carl and Margaret to buy a house five blocks away from their restaurant.
From "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal" by Eric Schlosser
Ruter has since introduced mechanisms enabling it to monitor and delay incoming signals in order to control updates, it said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026
Although practical applications will require further development, this atomic-scale approach could eventually help researchers manage both vortex movement and heat flow in future superconducting technologies, potentially enabling more efficient devices that consume less power.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
“The strategic advantage of cyber warfare lies in its stealth and ambiguity. Because it blurs the line between war and crime, attribution becomes difficult, enabling perpetrators to operate with minimal consequences.”
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026
Zuckerberg has laid out a vision in which Muse couples with an ever-expanding line-up of Meta AI smart glasses, enabling users to summon hands-free what he calls "personal superintelligence".
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
The codebook was like a dictionary, enabling the code clerk to translate a message into a secret language, comprehensible only to those with access to it.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
