Definition of "enable"

enable

/ɪˈneɪbəl/

verb
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.
  Quotations
  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, […], 1 Timothy i:12
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.
4. To yield the opportunity or provide the possibility for something; to provide with means, opportunities, and the like.
  Quotations
  Temperance gives Nature her full play, and enables her to exert herself in all her force and vigor.
  1711 October 24 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “SATURDAY, October 13, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 195; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, page 506
  Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
  2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3
  Trainers of modern athletes monitor performance by using high tech equipment and biometric bodysuits with embedded sensors to enable detailed analysis of movement, balance, efficiency for athletic performance.
  2009, Meribeth A. Dayme, Dynamics of the Singing Voice, Springer Science & Business Media, page 174
  During 1971-72, spare Type 4s on other regions enabled the whole class to be sidelined, with Class 43s going first.
  2022 January 12, David Clough, “From Germany with love: a Warship retrospective”, in RAIL, number 948, page 49
5. To imply or tacitly confer excuse for an action or a behavior.
6. (electronics) To put a circuit element into action by supplying a suitable input pulse.
7. (chiefly electronics, computing) To activate, to make operational (especially of a function of an electronic or mechanical device).

Definition of "enable"

enable

verb

Quotations

Quotations