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Sanction vs Enable - What's the difference?

sanction | enable | Related terms |

Sanction is a related term of enable.


As verbs the difference between sanction and enable

is that sanction is to ratify; to make valid while enable is to give strength or ability to; to make firm and strong.

As a noun sanction

is an approval, by an authority, generally one that makes something valid.

sanction

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • An approval, by an authority, generally one that makes something valid.
  • A penalty, or some coercive measure, intended to ensure compliance; especially one adopted by several nations, or by an international body.
  • A law, treaty, or contract, or a clause within a law, treaty, or contract, specifying the above.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To ratify; to make valid.
  • To give official authorization or approval to; to countenance.
  • * 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.21:
  • Many of the most earnest Protestants were business men, to whom lending money at interest was essential. Consequently first Calvin, and then other Protestant divines, sanctioned interest.
  • To penalize (a State etc.) with sanctions.
  • 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

    *