# empowered

Pronunciation: US say "im-POW-urd" /ɪmˈpaʊə(ɹ)d/; UK say "im-POW-uhd" /ɪmˈpaʊəd/

## Adjective

1. Granted the authority and ability to make choices that affect one's own situation. *(US)*
   - Simple: Able to make your own choices because someone has given you the power.
   - _The training program left staff feeling empowered to make decisions without a manager's approval._
   - _Residents felt empowered to shape the rules of their own neighborhood._
2. Behaving with noticeable confidence and self-assurance. *(US)*
   - Simple: Acting with strong confidence and a sense of control over your life.
   - _She strode onto the stage empowered, ready to address the crowd._
   - _His empowered manner reassured the nervous new recruits._
3. Having been granted specific powers or legal authority to act.
   - Simple: Given official power or the right to do something.
   - _The board was empowered to remove the director without a shareholder vote._
   - _Only an empowered representative may negotiate the terms of the treaty._

## Verb

4. Simple past tense and past participle of empower. — simple past and past participle of empower
   - Simple: Past tense and past participle of empower. Use it for something that already happened.
   - _The reforms empowered citizens to challenge unfair decisions._
   - _Voters were empowered by the measure to recall officials early._

## Noun

5. A person who has been given power, whether authority over their own affairs or, in fiction, special abilities.
   - Simple: A person who has been given power, such as control over their own life or, in stories, special powers.
   - _Once their abilities surfaced, the empowereds were sent to a training academy outside the city._
   - _Critics argued that the self-help movement spoke only to the empowered and ignored people with no money or time to spare._

## Origin

Formed from "empower" combined with the suffix "-ed".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/empowered (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).