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 Civil Guard has set up four offices in the cities of Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba and Seville to enable relatives of the victims to provide DNA samples and help identify the missing.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026
Companies making higher profits also pay more in tax, which can enable the government to spend more on public services.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
The technology could transform coding and financial work and potentially lead to scientific breakthroughs, but it could also enable bioweapons and “destabilize the geopolitical order,” according to the company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
"Instead of designing a new material to enable optical switching, we redesigned the light itself and showed new properties that were not previously thought to be possible," Ndao said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2026
Maybe he’d divined in me—correctly—this cowardice, this hideous pack instinct which would enable me to fall into step without question.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
The researchers now hope to identify the specific molecular sensor that enables T cells to detect their physical environment.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026
The single market enables goods, services and people to move freely between member states, with countries also applying many common rules and standards.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
A common defense of this system is that additional Medicaid money enables hospitals to charge privately insured patients less.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
It also enables the production of alloys which are highly resistant, notably to corrosion and heat, a boon for sectors such as aerospace as well as defence.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
Regression analysis is the tool that enables an economist to sort out these huge piles of data.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
"The board of directors commended the very good operational performance of all business segments which enabled the company to capture higher market prices," the company said in its earnings statement.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026
I suspect most Americans would agree that anyone else who enabled Epstein or engaged in crimes with him should be named, shamed, and potentially prosecuted—no matter what side of the political aisle they sit on.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2026
That processing power enabled the researchers to simulate an exceptionally large region of the early universe without sacrificing the fine detail needed to investigate individual galaxies and other important structures.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2026
When it resumed voyages to Svalbard in June last year after a long hiatus, it enabled direct passage from Murmansk in Russia’s High North.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
He now wrote his investors a letter letting them know he’d changed his policy—which enabled his investors to be angry with him all over again, even as he was making them rich.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
This is despite a combination of workarounds–such as pipelines and ship-to-ship transfers– enabling oil flows out of the Strait of Hormuz to return preconflict levels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
"And it's enabling businesses like this to thrive in really rural locations."
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
Police officers transported Gonzalez to a nearby fire station, where they removed his handcuffs, enabling paramedics with the Long Beach Fire Department to transport him to a hospital for treatment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026
“We have been fortunate in our careers and hope this gift encourages the next generation to continue the journey of enabling humanity to live and fly amongst the stars,” Shotwell said in a statement.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
The historic transformation of music in the jazz age was enabling an equally historic, admittedly embryonic, social transformation.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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.
