empower

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (6)  · 
“
Best iPhone Apps: The Guide for Discriminating Downloaders recommends over 200 gee-whiz apps that delight, empower, and entertain.

View all »
Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. transitive verb To invest with power, especially legal power or official authority. See Synonyms at authorize.
  2. transitive verb To equip or supply with an ability; enable: "Computers ... empower students to become intellectual explorers” (Edward B. Fiske).
  3. usage note
    Although it is a contemporary buzzword, the word empower is not new, having arisen in the mid-17th century with the legalistic meaning "to invest with authority, authorize.” Shortly thereafter it began to be used with an infinitive in a more general way meaning "to enable or permit.” Both of these uses survive today but have been overpowered by the word's use in politics and pop psychology. Its modern use originated in the civil rights movement, which sought political empowerment for its followers. The word was then taken up by the women's movement, and its appeal has not flagged. Since people of all political persuasions have a need for a word that makes their constituents feel that they are or are about to become more in control of their destinies, empower has been adopted by conservatives as well as social reformers. It has even migrated out of the political arena into other fields. · The Usage Panel has some misgivings about this recent broadening of usage. For the Panelists, the acceptability of the verb empower depends on the context. Eighty percent approve of the example We want to empower ordinary citizens. But in contexts that are not political the Panel is markedly less enthusiastic. The sentence Hunger and greed and then sexual zeal are felt by some to be stages of experience that empower the individual garners approval from only 33 percent of the Panelists. The Panel may frown on this kind of psychological empowering because it resonates of the self-help movement, which is notorious for trendy coinages.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (42)

  • Similarities to Paw aside, and those magical elements and the happy ever after ending they empower are the only weak part of the narrative, this is a gripping story, one that builds well, with each step along the way following on surely from the previous one, once you accept the given of supernatural interference. —  BlackStaticHorrorMagazine#3
  • The mission of the foundation is to educate, empower, advocate for, support and inspire young women affected by breast cancer; to end isolation among young adult breast cancer survivors and to improve the quality of life for young adult breast cancer survivors by creating vigilant self-advocates. —  CSRwire.com
  • Instead of concluding your piece with a cryptic, apparently nostalgic reflection on how democracies "empower" prejudice, why not devote more space to exploring this mystery, which really ought to be the crux of the issue?! —  Nicholas D. Kristof
  • Can you name a few recent examples of companies using social media to embrace, empower, and excite their customer evangelists? —  Marketing Profs Daily Fix
  • By readily repurposing, integrating with and extending the business value of existing technology, infrastructure and business applications, Xenos solutions empower organizations to adapt to changing market demands. —  ECM Connection Products
More examples »
 

Tags

empower hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 126 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

empower:   empowering ·  empowered ·  empowers
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ɛmˈpaʊər/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a week.

Recently looked up

Denying · short-haired · erudite · abacus · malice

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich