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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Empower \Em*pow"er\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Empowered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Empowering}.]
1. To give authority to; to delegate power to; to commission; to authorize (having commonly a legal force); as, the Supreme Court is empowered to try and decide cases, civil or criminal; the attorney is empowered to sign an acquittance, and discharge the debtor.
2. To give moral or physical power, faculties, or abilities to. ''These eyes . . . empowered to gaze.'' --Keble.
3. to enable or permit; to give more opportunity for independent action. [PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
empower
verb
1: give or delegate power or authority to; "She authorized her assistant to sign the papers" [syn: {authorise}, {authorize}]
2: give qualities or abilities to [syn: {endow}, {indue}, {gift}, {invest}, {endue}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
46 Moby Thesaurus words for "empower": accredit, arm, assign, authorize, certificate, certify, charge, charter, clothe, clothe with power, commission, commit, consign, delegate, depute, deputize, detach, detail, devolute, devolve, devolve upon, enable, endow, endue, enfranchise, entitle, entrust, franchise, give in charge, give official sanction, give power, invest, legalize, legitimize, license, mission, patent, post, privilege, ratify, sanction, send out, transfer, validate, vest, warrant
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |