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Approve vs Empower - What's the difference?

approve | empower |

In lang=en terms the difference between approve and empower

is that approve is to consider or show to be worthy of approbation or acceptance while empower is to give someone more confidence and/or strength to do something, often by enabling them to increase their control over their own life or situation.

As verbs the difference between approve and empower

is that approve is to sanction officially; to ratify; to confirm or approve can be (english law) to make profit of; to convert to one's own profit;—said especially of waste or common land appropriated by the lord of the manor while empower is to give permission, power, or the legal right to do something.

approve

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . Compare prove, approbate.

Verb

(approv)
  • To sanction officially; to ratify; to confirm.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.}}
  • To regard as good; to commend; to be pleased with; to think well of.
  • To make proof of; to demonstrate; to prove or show practically.
  • * (Ralph Waldo Emerson),
    • Opportunities to approve worth.
  • * (Thomas Babington Macaulay),
    • He had approved himself a great warrior.
  • * (George Gordon Byron),
    • 'T is an old lesson; Time approves it true.
  • * (Francis Parkman),
    • His accountapproves him a man of thought.
  • To consider or show to be worthy of approbation or acceptance.
  • * (Henry Rogers),
    • The first care and concern must be to approve himself to God.
  • * (Thomas Babington Macaulay),
    • They had not approved of the deposition of James.
  • * (William Black),
    • They approved of the political institutions.
    Note: This word, when it signifies to be pleased with, to think favorably (of''), is often followed by ''of .
    Derived terms
    () * approval * approvable * I approve this message * approvably * approbation

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) aprouer; . Compare with improve.

    Verb

    (approv)
  • (English Law) To make profit of; to convert to one's own profit;—said especially of waste or common land appropriated by the lord of the manor.

    • References

    *

    empower

    English

    Alternative forms

    * empowre (archaic) * impower (archaic) * impowre (obsolete)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To give permission, power, or the legal right to do something.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1985, author=William H. Tench, title=Safety is no accident
    • , passage=Regulations have been made under the Civil Aviation Acts of 1949, 1980 and 1982 which empower Inspectors of Accidents to do these things.}}
  • To give someone more confidence and/or strength to do something, often by enabling them to increase their control over their own life or situation.
    • It's not enough to give women and minorities equal rights on paper; they need to be empowered to be able to make use of these rights.
    John found that starting up his own business empowered him greatly in social situations.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1992, author=Nick Logan, title=The Face, page=11-130
    • , passage=Musically, what originally attracted me to dance was its shamanist aspects, using natural magic to change people's neurological states and to psychologically empower them.}}

    Synonyms

    * (give permission to) allow, let, permit * (give confidence to) inspire

    Antonyms

    * (give permission to) ban, bar, forbid, prohibit * (give confidence to) disempower, dishearten, disspirit

    Derived terms

    * empowerment