different between license vs enable

English

Alternative forms

• (British, Canadian, Australian, Irish, South African and New Zealand English) licence (noun)

Etymology

From Old French licence, from Latin licentia (“license”), from licens, present participle of licere (“to be allowed, be allowable”); compare linquere, Ancient Greek ????? (leíp?, “leave”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?la?s?ns/
• Hyphenation: li?cense

Noun

license (countable and uncountable, plural licenses)

1. A legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit.
2. The legal terms under which a person is allowed to use a product, especially software.
3. Freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behaviour or speech).
4. Excessive freedom; lack of due restraint.
5. Short for driver's license.

Usage notes

• In British English, Canadian English, Australian English, Irish English, South African English and New Zealand English the noun is spelt licence and the verb is license.
• The spelling licence is not used for either part of speech in the United States.

Derived terms

Related terms

• licensure
• licentious

Translations

Verb

license (third-person singular simple present licenses, present participle licensing, simple past and past participle licensed)

1. Authorize officially.

2. (transitive) (applied to a piece of intellectual property)
   1. To give formal authorization to use.
   2. To acquire authorization to use, usually in exchange for compensation.
3. (linguistics, transitive) To permit (as grammatically correct).

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• license in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• license in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Licence in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• selenic, silence

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