Inform vs Enable - What's the difference?
inform | enable |
(archaic) To instruct, train (usually in matters of knowledge).
To communicate knowledge to.
* Spenser
* Shakespeare
To impart information or knowledge.
To act as an informer; denounce.
To give form or character to; to inspire (with a given quality); to affect, influence (with a pervading principle, idea etc.).
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)
, volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= * Dryden
* Prior
(obsolete) To make known, wisely and/or knowledgeably.
(obsolete) To direct, guide.
(archaic) To take form; to become visible or manifest; to appear.
* Shakespeare
Without regular form; shapeless; ugly; deformed.
To give strength or ability to; to make firm and strong.
* 1611 , King James Bible , "1 Tim. i. 12"
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
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To allow a way out or excuse for an action.
As verbs the difference between inform and enable
is that inform is (archaic|transitive) to instruct, train (usually in matters of knowledge) while enable is to give strength or ability to; to make firm and strong.As an adjective inform
is without regular form; shapeless; ugly; deformed.inform
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) informen, enformen, from (etyl) enformer, .Alternative forms
* (l) (obsolete)Verb
(en verb)- For he would learn their business secretly, / And then inform his master hastily.
- I am informed thoroughly of the cause.
Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution, passage=WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets.}}
- Let others better mould the running mass / Of metals, and inform the breathing brass.
- Breath informs this fleeting frame.
- It is the bloody business which informs / Thus to mine eyes.
Synonyms
* acquaint, apprise, notify * (act as informer) dob, name names, peach, snitchDerived terms
* informant * information * informative * informatory * informed * informer * misinform * uninformedEtymology 2
(etyl) (lena) informisAdjective
(-)- (Cotton)
Anagrams
*enable
English
(Webster 1913)Verb
(enabling) (enabl)- Who hath enabled me.
- Temperance gives Nature her full play, and enables her to exert herself in all her force and vigor.
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.}}