What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Enable vs Encounter - What's the difference?

enable | encounter |

As verbs the difference between enable and encounter

is that enable is to give strength or ability to; to make firm and strong while encounter is to meet (someone) or find (something) unexpectedly.

As a noun encounter is

an unplanned or unexpected meeting.

enable

English

(Webster 1913)

Verb

(enabling) (enabl)
  • To give strength or ability to; to make firm and strong.
  • * 1611 , King James Bible , "1 Tim. i. 12"
    • Who hath enabled me.
  • To make able (to do, or to be, something); to confer sufficient power upon; to furnish with means, opportunities, and the like; to render competent for; to empower; to endow.
  • * 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.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}
  • To allow a way out or excuse for an action.

    • Antonyms

    * disable

    Derived terms

    * enabler * enablement * re-enable * reenable

    External links

    * * *

    Anagrams

    *

    encounter

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (obsolete) * incounter (archaic) * incountre (obsolete)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To meet (someone) or find (something) unexpectedly.
  • To confront (someone or something) face to face.
  • (ambitransitive) To engage in conflict, as with an enemy.
    • Three armies encountered at Waterloo.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I will encounter with Andronicus.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An unplanned or unexpected meeting.
  • :
  • *
  • *:That was Selwyn's first encounter with the Ruthvens. A short time afterward at the opera Gerald dragged him into a parterre to say something amiable to one of the amiable dĂ©butante Craig girls—and Selwyn found himself again facing Alixe.
  • A hostile meeting; a confrontation or skirmish.
  • A sudden, often violent clash, as between combatants.
  • (label) A match between two opposing sides.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 29, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal , passage=Andre Santos equalised and the outstanding Theo Walcott put Arsenal ahead for the first time before Juan Mata's spectacular strike set up the finale for an enthralling encounter .}}

    Synonyms

    * (unplanned meeting ): * (hostile meeting ): clash, confrontation, brush, skirmish

    Derived terms

    * close encounter * encounter group