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:
In the meantime, Norway's capital Oslo banned the glasses in schools this week as the government mulls regulating their use and considers a ban on features that enable facial recognition in public.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
It may also help enable hybrid quantum systems that combine several different kinds of quantum bits, or qubits.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 2026
“By combining applied AI with decades of sophisticated business rules, regulatory compliance, security models, data models and customer configurations, we enable customers to continuously realize AI’s value,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
The department is now “moving faster and more aggressively than ever to identify, disrupt, and penalize any institution or intermediary that continues to enable business with the Iranian regime.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
After a few moments, I hesitantly turn on my messages and enable ones from Hideo.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
"Dynamic reconstruction enables low-loading catalysts to achieve high performance, offering new opportunities for the rational design of efficient catalysts while reducing reliance on high metal loadings."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 9, 2026
Kazan doesn’t sacrifice much of the character’s darkness, but rather enables Pugh, an actress who ably navigates purity and corruption, to play with both closer to the surface than usual.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026
The technology enables artists and directors "to achieve things that until now were not possible," he explained.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
"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
The physical structure of the molecule enables its chemical nature, the chemical nature enables its physiological function, and its physiology ultimately permits its biological activity.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The firm’s success enabled me to become one of the initial signers of the Giving Pledge, to be active in the Washington and national philanthropic communities—and to have the resources to consider buying the Orioles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
She said reading together had enabled the school to "break down that fear of reading" and that pupils had "absolutely embraced it".
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
The funds have enabled it to purchase fighters’ loyalties, as well as advanced materiel, such as drones.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
The approach enabled the scientists to track changes in cosmic neutral hydrogen using a sample of unprecedented size and with exceptionally high statistical precision.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
The telescope and the microscope enabled scientists to see previously invisible worlds.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
"It's really enabling scientists to do things we would not even have thought of before," he said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
"I'm out there doing the really long reps back to back to back and that's enabling me to do this really packed schedule."
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 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
During those years when the nuns warned me about the dangers of intellectual pride and referred to Christ as Baby Jesus, they were enabling me to participate frilly in the liturgical life of the Church.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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.
