enable

Verb

enable (third-person singular simple present enables, present participle enabling, simple past and past participle enabled)

1. To make somebody able (to do, or to be, something); to give sufficient ability or power to do or to be; to give strength or ability to.
   • And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy i:12

   Synonyms:

   empower, endow

2. To affirm; to make firm and strong.
3. To qualify or approve for some role or position; to render sanction or authorization to; to confirm suitability for.
   • This was widely interpreted to mean that slavery was once more firmly illegal in England. However, the "positive law" mentioned–i.e., a direct law specifically enabling slavery–existed in many British colonies (although not all), since these colonies had a degree of freedom to write their own law...2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 3:21 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2024

   Synonyms:

   let, permit, authorize

4. To yield the opportunity or provide the possibility for something; to provide with means, opportunities, and the like.
   • Temperance gives Nature her full play, and enables her to exert herself in all her force and vigor.1711 October 23 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “FRIDAY, October 13, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 195; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume...
   • April 16, 2018, Norimitsu Onishi and Selam Gebrekidan writing in The New York Times, ‘They Eat Money’: How Mandela’s Political Heirs Grow Rich Off Corruption

   Synonyms:

   allow

5. To imply or tacitly confer excuse for an action or a behavior.
   • His parents enabled him to go on buying drugs.
6. To put a circuit element into action by supplying a suitable input pulse.
7. To activate, to make operational (especially of a function of an electronic or mechanical device).

   Synonyms:

   activate, turn on

   Antonyms:

   disable