Word family noun power superpower powerlessness empowerment adjective powerful ≠ powerless overpowering power powered verb power empower overpower adverb powerfully ≠ powerlessly overpoweringly
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishempowerem‧pow‧er /ɪmˈpaʊə $ -ˈpaʊr/ ●○○ verb [transitive] 1 CONTROLto give someone more control over their own life or situation The Voting Rights Act was needed to empower minority groups.2 formalSCL to give a person or organization the legal right to do somethingbe empowered to do something The president is empowered to appoint judges to the Supreme Court. —empowerment noun [uncountable]→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
empower• A good preacher sends you out feeling more empowered.• Yet she still yearned to breathe the empowering air of the entrepreneur.• As we accept more responsibility, so we empower and enrich our lives.• But fundamentally the workers are not empowered, because all these things can be denied at any time.• They were amazingly empowered by that system.• To be empowered is to be able to take care of oneself and to have influence on others.• The question of how to empower those people marginalised through disabilities and learning difficulties is, thus, a central one.be empowered to do something• The President is empowered to appoint judges to the Supreme Court.• In imposing taxes for state purposes, they are not doing what Congress is empowered to do.• It would be empowered to conduct its own relations with foreign central banks.• Tax inspectors should be empowered to examine a man's bank statement as well as his credit-card dealings.• The police were empowered to direct and to route processions, but a ban could only come from the Home Secretary.• They were empowered to improve a range of local facilities from transport, credit, and insurance to health and education.• Though flogging was restricted, the length of sentences which lower courts were empowered to impose was doubled.• Wood is empowered to return Milken to prison for up to the maximum 10-year sentence that she originally imposed.• Health officers in Macclesfield are to be empowered to go into houses and switch off noisy burglar alarms.From Longman Business Dictionaryempowerem‧pow‧er /ɪmˈpaʊə-ər/ verb [transitive] formalLAW to give a person or an organization the power or the legal right to do somethingempower somebody to do somethingThe President is empowered to appoint judges to the Supreme Court.→ See Verb table 