different between adapt vs enable

English

Etymology

From Middle French adapter, from Latin adaptare (“to fit to”), from ad (“to”) + aptare (“to make fit”), from aptus (“fit”); see apt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??dæpt/
• Rhymes: -æpt

Verb

adapt (third-person singular simple present adapts, present participle adapting, simple past and past participle adapted)

1. (transitive) To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit

   Synonym: proportion

2. (transitive) To fit by alteration; to modify or remodel for a different purpose; to adjust

3. (transitive) To make by altering or fitting something else; to produce by change of form or character

4. (intransitive) To make oneself comfortable to a new thing.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

adapt (comparative more adapt, superlative most adapt)

1. Adapted; fit; suited; suitable.
   • c. 1709, Jonathan Swift, Merlin's Prophecy

     This prediction, though somewhat obscure, is wonderfully adapt.

Translations

References

• adapt in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• APDTA

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??dap(t)/

Verb

adapt (third-person singular present adapts, present participle adaptin, past adaptit, past participle adaptit)

1. to adapt

References

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.

English

Etymology

From Middle English enablen, equivalent to en- +? able.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??ne?b?l/
• Rhymes: -e?b?l

Verb

enable (third-person singular simple present enables, present participle enabling, simple past and past participle enabled)

1. To make somebody able (to do, or to be, something); to give sufficient ability or power to do or to be; to give strength or ability to.
   • 1611, King James Bible, "1 Tim. i. 12"

     And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

   Synonyms: empower, endow

2. To affirm; to make firm and strong.
3. To qualify or approve for some role or position; to render sanction or authorization to; to confirm suitability for.

   Synonyms: let, permit, authorize

4. To yield the opportunity or provide the possibility for something; to provide with means, opportunities, and the like.

   Synonym: allow

   • 1711, October 13, Joseph Addison, The Spectator, number 195

     Temperance gives Nature her full play, and enables her to exert herself in all her force and vigor.

   • April 16, 2018, Norimitsu Onishi and Selam Gebrekidan writing in The New York Times, ‘They Eat Money’: How Mandela’s Political Heirs Grow Rich Off Corruption
   • 2009, Meribeth A. Dayme, Dynamics of the Singing Voice, Springer Science & Business Media, p. 174:

     Trainers of modern athletes monitor performance by using high tech equipment and biometric bodysuits with embedded sensors to enable detailed analysis of movement, balance, efficiency for athletic performance.

5. To imply or tacitly confer excuse for an action or a behavior.

6. (electronics) To put a circuit element into action by supplying a suitable input pulse.
7. (chiefly electronics, computing) To activate, to make operational (especially of a function of an electronic or mechanical device).

   Synonyms: activate, turn on

   Antonym: disable

Derived terms

• enabler
• enablement
• re-enable
• reenable

Translations

Further reading

• enable in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• enable in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• enable at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• baleen