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Enable vs Start - What's the difference?

enable | start |

As a verb enable

is to give strength or ability to; to make firm and strong.

As an acronym start is

(law).

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

    Anagrams

    *

    start

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) stert, from the verb . See below.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The beginning of an activity.
  • The movie was entertaining from start to finish.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, / Straining upon the start .
  • A sudden involuntary movement.
  • He woke with a start .
  • * L'Estrange
  • Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a hurry.
  • * Robert Louis Stevenson, Olalla
  • The sight of his scared face, his starts and pallors and sudden harkenings, unstrung me
  • The beginning point of a race, a board game, etc.
  • An appearance in a sports game from the beginning of the match.
  • Jones has been a substitute before, but made his first start for the team last Sunday.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=February 12 , author=Ian Hughes , title=Arsenal 2 - 0 Wolverhampton\ , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Wilshere, who made his first start for England in the midweek friendly win over Denmark, raced into the penalty area and chose to cross rather than shoot - one of the very few poor selections he made in the match. }}
  • A young plant germinated]] in a pot to be [[transplant, transplanted later.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) . More at (l).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To begin, commence, initiate.
  • # To set in motion.
  • #* (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • I was engaged in conversation upon a subject which the people love to start in discourse.
  • #* , chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.}}
  • # To begin.
  • #* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Finland spreads word on schools , passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}}
  • # (senseid)To initiate operation of a vehicle or machine.
  • # To put or raise (a question, an objection); to put forward (a subject for discussion).
  • # To bring onto being or into view; to originate; to invent.
  • #* Sir (1628–1699)
  • Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start .
  • To begin an activity.
  • * , chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ 
  • To startle or be startled; to move or be moved suddenly.
  • # To jerk suddenly in surprise.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • But if he start , / It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.
  • #* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • I start as from some dreadful dream.
  • #* (Isaac Watts) (1674-1748)
  • Keep your soul to the work when ready to start aside.
  • # To move suddenly from its place or position; to displace or loosen; to dislocate.
  • #* Wiseman
  • One, by a fall in wrestling, started the end of the clavicle from the sternum.
  • # To awaken suddenly.
  • #* (rfdate) (Mary Shelley)
  • I started from my sleep with horror
  • # To disturb and cause to move suddenly; to startle; to alarm; to rouse; to cause to flee or fly.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Upon malicious bravery dost thou come / To start my quiet?
  • To break away, to come loose.
  • * 1749 , (John Cleland), (w) (Penguin 1985 reprint), page 66:
  • we could, with the greatest ease as well as clearness, see all objects (ourselves unseen) only by applying our eyes close to the crevice, where the moulding of a panel had warped or started a little on the other side.
  • (nautical) To pour out; to empty; to tap and begin drawing from.
  • Usage notes
    * In uses 1.1 and 1.2 this is a catenative verb that takes the infinitive (to'') or the gerund (''-ing ) form. There is no change in meaning. * For more information, see
    Antonyms
    * stop
    Derived terms
    * * starter

    See also

    * at the start * false start * for a start * get started * jump-start * start off * start on * start out * start up

    Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A tail, or anything projecting like a tail.
  • A handle, especially that of a plough.
  • The curved or inclined front and bottom of a water wheel bucket.
  • The arm, or level, of a gin, drawn around by a horse.
  • (Webster 1913)