empower
Formsempowers, empowering, empowered
- 1To give someone greater confidence and strength to act, often by increasing their control over their own life or situation.
Microloans empower women in rural communities to start their own businesses.
The new policy is designed to empower employees to make decisions without waiting for approval.
Similarenable, equip, embolden, strengthen
Oppositedisempower
Note
Here the power is felt rather than conferred. The subject is often an experience or practice, such as starting a business, training, or even dance, rather than a law. The result is confidence rather than a right. It shares the empower someone to do construction with the legal sense, but it also stands without an infinitive, often with an adverb: an experience can empower someone greatly.
- 2To grant someone the permission, power, or legal right to do something.
The statute empowers the agency to issue fines for violations.
Shareholders voted to empower the board to negotiate the merger.
Similarauthorize, entitle, permit, allow, license
Note
A word of statutes and regulations: built from em- and power, it names authority that a law or governing body hands to someone. It almost always takes an object and a to-infinitive (empower inspectors to enter property). It is often passive, as in inspectors are empowered to seize equipment, because the grant usually comes from an act or regulation that need not be named.
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Origin
Formed from the prefix em- combined with power.