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:
Taiwan has been boosting defence spending for years and acquiring smaller and more nimble weaponry, including drones, to enable its military to wage asymmetric warfare against China.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
According to interviews and internal emails reviewed by ProPublica, career staffers at the Justice Department warned that transferring voter rolls to HSI to enable it to search for noncitizen voters could violate federal privacy laws.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
If City knew Rodri was going it would enable them to make a bid for Fernandez.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
A new White House report says more than 40 countries enable Chinese exporters to evade U.S. tariffs through illegal transshipment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
He is preparing to take his registration exam, the two-day ordeal that will enable him to become a licensed architect, to stamp drawings and design things under his own name.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
“This emergency declaration enables the City to act swiftly in reducing wildfire risks while continuing our balanced approach that protects both public safety and vulnerable community members.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
He shared his strategy for investing in the AI build-out, which enables him to avoid guessing ”who wins and who loses on the software side.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
“I don’t know any other platform that enables that so quickly,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
"We welcomed the funding settlement from central government for 2026-2027, which enables national park authorities to deliver core services and projects," she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
“To believe in things that you cannot. Let me illustrate. I heard once of an American who so defined faith: ‘that faculty which enables us to believe things which we know to be untrue.’
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
“This decision will result in carriers that are enabled by battle-tested steam and hydraulic systems that are more resilient and robust than the present, more exquisite, follow-on systems,” the White House said in a statement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
This additional income enabled me to delay claiming my own Social Security benefits until 70.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
They formed an essential part of the survival strategies that enabled people to live in some of the harshest environments on Earth.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
Amazon added it remained committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 under The Climate Pledge, and had enabled 40 carbon-free energy projects totaling nearly 10 gigawatts in Texas.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
Instead, highly productive agriculture enabled a modest number of immigrant rice farmers to reproduce much faster than Jomon hunter-gatherers and eventually to outnumber them.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
He said his firefighters have "very specialist skills" to tackle wildfires with military assistance enabling him to "focus all of that in the right place".
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Their conversation explores characters who hide their true nature behind carefully constructed personas, the role of technology in enabling obsession and revenge, and the social rituals that define contemporary London.
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2026
"Great effort went into straightening rivers to harness them for our use, but also into enabling agriculture by draining the wetlands."
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
“Maddie’s Secret” does an impressive job of highlighting the dangers of this kind of enabling.
From Salon ● Aug. 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
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.
