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.

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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

They wrote text prompts that explored 18 different variations of the sea parting and discarded the ones that didn’t work, enabling Kingsley to react to a tidal wave projected onto a 360-degree LED wall screen.

From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026

Burnham's supporters have said for days that he has a path back into parliament, which is to say an MP willing to vacate their seat potentially enabling him to fight a by-election.

From BBC • May 12, 2026

AI is enabling scalable phishing emails, fraudulent texts, impersonation chatbots, cloned-voice scams and automated outreach.

From MarketWatch • May 11, 2026

AngloGold Ashanti reported a jump in quarterly earnings and record free cash flow, enabling a $2 billion share buyback and higher dividend.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

On the sides are hand grips enabling one to shift them about.

From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque

Related Words

• permissive