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.

Express vs Enable - What's the difference?

express | enable |

As verbs the difference between express and enable

is that express is (senseid) to convey or communicate; to make known or explicit while enable is to give strength or ability to; to make firm and strong.

As an adjective express

is (not comparable) moving or operating quickly, as a train not making local stops.

As a noun express

is a mode of transportation, often a train, that travels quickly or directly or express can be (obsolete) the action of conveying some idea using words or actions; communication, expression.

express

Etymology 1

From (etyl) , from (etyl) expressus, past participle of (exprimere) (see Etymology 2, below).

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (not comparable) Moving or operating quickly, as a train not making local stops.
  • (comparable) Specific or precise; directly and distinctly stated; not merely implied.
  • I gave him express instructions not to begin until I arrived, but he ignored me.
    This book cannot be copied without the express permission of the publisher.
  • Truly depicted; exactly resembling.
  • In my eyes it bore a livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than the imperfect and divided countenance.
  • * Milton
  • Their human countenance / The express resemblance of the gods.
    Synonyms
    * explicit * (of a train) fast, crack
    Antonyms
    * implied

    Noun

    (es)
  • A mode of transportation, often a train, that travels quickly or directly.
  • I took the express into town.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1931, author=
  • , title=Death Walks in Eastrepps , chapter=1/1 citation , passage=The train was moving less fast through the summer night. The swift express had changed into something almost a parliamentary, had stopped three times since Norwich, and now, at long last, was approaching Banton.}}
  • A service that allows mail or money to be sent rapidly from one destination to another.
  • An express rifle.
  • * H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines
  • "Give me my express ," I said, laying down the Winchester, and he handed it to me cocked.
  • (obsolete) A clear image or representation; an expression; a plain declaration.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • the only remanent express of Christ's sacrifice on earth
  • A messenger sent on a special errand; a courier.
  • An express office.
  • * E. E. Hale
  • She charged him to ask at the express if anything came up from town.
  • That which is sent by an express messenger or message.
  • (Eikon Basilike)
    Synonyms
    * (of a train) fast train
    Antonyms
    * (of a train) local, stopper

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) espresser, (expresser), from frequentative form of (etyl) exprimere.

    Verb

    (es)
  • (senseid) To convey or communicate; to make known or explicit.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith. As we reached the lodge we heard the whistle, and we backed up against one side of the platform as the train pulled up at the other.}}
  • To press, squeeze out (especially said of milk).
  • * 1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby-Dick) ,
  • The people of his island of Rokovoko, it seems, at their wedding feasts express the fragrant water of young cocoanuts into a large stained calabash like a punchbowl [...].
  • (biochemistry) To translate messenger RNA into protein.
  • (biochemistry) To transcribe deoxyribonucleic acid into messenger RNA.
  • Synonyms
    * (l), (l)

    Noun

    (expresses)
  • (obsolete) The action of conveying some idea using words or actions; communication, expression.
  • * 1646 , Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica , V.20:
  • Whereby they discoursed in silence, and were intuitively understood from the theory of their expresses .
  • (obsolete) A specific statement or instruction.
  • * 1646 , (Sir Thomas Browne), Pseudodoxia Epidemica , II.5:
  • This Gentleman [...] caused a man to go down no less than a hundred fathom, with express to take notice whether it were hard or soft in the place where it groweth.

    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

    *