enabling
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of enabling
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.
Vocabulary lists containing enabling
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.
Peacebuilding activist Eva Khair told the Security Council that "although they have denied such allegations, external actors are enabling this catastrophe."
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
“So, without the NRO enabling Steve’s maturity, he wouldn’t have returned to run Apple as a turnaround CEO.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
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
By enabling farmers to generate food surpluses, food production permitted farming societies to support full-time craft specialists who did not grow their own food and who developed technologies.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
