Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To invest with power, especially legal power or official authority. See Synonyms at authorize.
- v. To equip or supply with an ability; enable: "Computers ... empower students to become intellectual explorers” ( Edward B. Fiske).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To give power or authority to; authorize, as by law, commission, letter of attorney, verbal license, etc.: as, the commissioner is empowered to make terms.
- To impart power or force to; give efficacy to; enable.
- Synonyms To commission, license, warrant, qualify.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To give permission, power, or the legal right to do something.
- v. transitive To give someone more confidence and/or strength to do something, often by enabling them to increase their control over their own life or situation.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To give authority to; to delegate power to; to commission; to authorize (having commonly a legal force)
- v. To give moral or physical power, faculties, or abilities to.
- v. to enable or permit; to give more opportunity for independent action.
WordNet 3.0
- v. give or delegate power or authority to
- v. give qualities or abilities to
Etymologies
- em- + power (Wiktionary)
Examples
“She says: The word enable can be contrasted with the word empower.”
“Oxford defines vulnerable as "susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm"; empower is to "give (someone) the authority or power to do something.”
“Membership: For s30 to s75, new clients are entitled to a six-week money back / results guaranteed programme called empower with no joining fee and no contract.”
“We now know that both of these terms empower Osama bin Laden, uniting disparate terrorist groups into a global cause and dividing the US from its allies who believe the costs of approaching this long-term challenge as a global war outweigh any benefits from the use of the term.”
“So why not use your looks, surely as eternal as your intellect, to further "empower" yourself by making men ogle you as well as admire your keen grasp of tort law?”
The Guardian: Actually, you won't find female empowerment halfway up a pole
“Tawasul's mission is to "empower" civil society institutions through training and knowledge.”
The Huffington Post: Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi: The Civil Society Movement in the Arab Gulf States
“But they grew frustrated when their efforts to "empower" residents met with resistance.”
The Washington Post: Amid Montgomery's affluence, plight of suburban poor worsens in downturn
“Pollin: Obama plan to 'empower' the Fed won't reign in casino capitalism; finance must be democratized”
The Real News: Federal Reserve: Same Old Sheriff on Wall St.
“If the goal of the embargo was to "empower" the Cuban people (in essence, to make their lives so unbearable that they'd rise up and overthrow their government) that has also failed.”
“I think I understand the good intentions of those who would "empower" me.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘empower’.
-
EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
-
POL - campaign tokenisms
Positive words and vague promises. THE words and expressions to use when you want to win over the masses or just don't know what to say.
"CAPITAL" stands for the administrative capital...deserve, deserve better, destiny, determination, determine, determine the wil..., dialogue, differentiation, difficult question, disappointments, diverse, diversity and 751 more...
-
EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
-
Lingering Irritation
Intensely disliked words from (a) grad program(s) in social sciences. At first they sound tricky and important. Take note! "Modeling is an important aspect in education. Eschew obfuscation."
...zeitgeist, praxis, cathexis, dissertation, reflexive, reflective, empathetic, empathic, paucity, diversity, intervention, efficacy and 23 more...
-
Happy Therapy
Starting up a therapeutic service? Here are some words you can sprinkle throughout your brochure to sell your particular brand of change.
holistic, integration, nurture, exploration, acceptance, treatment, empower, supportive, teamwork, development, change, community and 14 more...
-
capitalcreative's Words
deviltry, visceral, cassanova, assuage, genesis, hot minute, osmosis, wistful, sublime, loathe, farfetched, newfangled and 283 more...
-
I do not like them, Sam I Am
Words that, for various reasons, I wish we could do without.
copacetic, gamut, horehound, lewd, membrane, metrics, mucous, mucus, negligee, nostril, odious, odor and 143 more...
-
katiad's Words
exquisite, obnoxious, noxious, extravaganza, whirlwind, whirling, wild, spinster, existential, chaos, zephyr, blasphemy and 310 more...
-
E
eternal, euphoric, enlighten, endeavor, evil, eleven, electric, enthusiasm, equality, elegance, existence, estrogen and 29 more...
-
G & G
GRE , GMAT , TOEFL , IELTS , SAT 。。。
alphabet soup, vernacular, aberrant, abeyance, abet, recant, contrite, reiterate, patois, skew, senate, deliberative and 179 more...
-
conceptwriter's Words
sloth, jackass, dickhead, technostalgic, futuristic, enigma, impact, addict, nasty, premium, extraordinaire, yearning and 262 more...
-
my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
-
big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
-
de-verb this word
Nouns made into unnatural verbs, nouns used as verbs, verbs that used to be intransitive
systematize, alphabeticalize, problematize, impact, monetize, incentivize, actualize, randomize, conceptualize, exit, access, resource and 31 more...
-
words I like
Just words I come across that I don't see used enough, or don't understand
placate, impasse, harangue, posit, denounce, seditious, vapid, seminal, vigil, vitriolic, innoffensive, efficacious and 20 more...
-
Hated
like, random, late, empower, stakeholder
Tweets
Looking for tweets for empower.
kewpid I find this word empowering. Dec 22, 2008
dhuber Ugh. I'm adding that to my "hated" list. Dec 22, 2008
corylusavellana I agree whole-heartedly. Such an annoying and vacuous word. Dec 22, 2008
corylusavellana I agree whole-heartedly. Such an annoying and vacuous word. Dec 22, 2008
reesetee I dislike this word so much that I consider it an un-word. Jun 29, 2008
vermontster Said so often in health and human services that it almost means nothing. Stolen. Worn out. Even co-opted. Way to ruin something. Jun 28, 2008