noun

• 1A person or thing that makes something possible.

  ‘the people who run these workshops are crime enablers’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Bluetooth is the ultimate enabler of the smart house that has been the darling of futurists since the 1939 World's Fair’
  • ‘Consequently design, or more specifically aesthetics, is the chief enabler.’
  • ‘The networked structure of the Internet proves to be an important enabler in becoming increasingly networked.’
  • ‘Clearly, real estate can be an enabler of a supply-chain strategy.’
  • ‘Digital technology is an enabler of new business models.’
  • ‘No matter how sophisticated, technology is only the enabler.’
  • ‘The second aspect of Sambo's work was as a teacher and enabler.’
  • ‘Expanding the view and scope of security is an important enabler in integrating security risk management into an organization.’
  • ‘Top management looked at networking as an industry enabler, rather than as a new business.’
  • ‘Be a success enabler, suggests Watson.’
  • ‘It suggests the government act as an enabler and facilitator for the industry rather than as an investor or regulator.’
  • ‘He is an enabler, and he enables us to get things done.’
  • ‘It will be the enabler that will move us forward from a pure brick-and-mortar business to one which is both click and mortar.’
  • ‘The government clearly played a crucial role as enabler of the western settlement; but it did not, by itself, play the dominant role in the settlement and subsequent development of the frontier.’
  • ‘Teachers then become the enabler and the nurturer of the talent.’
  • ‘We have to examine where we want to be a provider, where we want to be a co-provider, and where we want to be an enabler.’
  • ‘However, he will be remembered as a leader and an enabler who made a lasting impression in his field.’
  • ‘To Keegan, intelligence is, at best, an enabler; it cannot in itself bring victory.’
  • ‘Often people see money as the great enabler, but when you look at the other characteristics that define effective schools, many do not rely on increased spending, just wise spending.’
  • ‘We see government as a catalyst, an enabler and a supporter of individual development and enterprise.’
  • ‘She described herself as being focused, inclusive and a good enabler.’

  1. 1.1A person who encourages or enables negative or self-destructive behaviour in another.
     ‘being an enabler to an addict does more harm than good’
     More example sentences

     • ‘In recovery parlance, he is a classic enabler.’
     • ‘Anderton's seedy enabler - a homeless guy lurking in the shadows - is straight out of mythology.’
     • ‘She acts as his "enabler" allowing him to persist in self-destructive behaviour by making excuses or cleaning up after his mistakes.’
     • ‘Bonnie probably never killed anyone, but it wasn't for lack of trying, and she was one hell of an enabler.’
     • ‘She's his posthumous enabler, cutting him plenty of slack for his male needs, allowing him to poeticize his libido, making his affair an artistic necessity.’
     • ‘His own letters suggest that he was not only an enabler, but often in fact the dominator in the relationship with Douglas.’
     • ‘Alcohol is the crutch and a typewriter is the enabler for Leon Barlow (Arliss Howard), the bruised and possibly brilliant Midwestern American scribe at the centre of Big Bad Love.’
     • ‘After the first murder, Selby becomes Aileen's enabler - initially unknowing, then with a gradual recognition (and perhaps perverse enjoyment) of her power.’
     • ‘It must also be careful not to become a silent apologist or polite enabler for the regime.’
     • ‘But it becomes increasingly hard to hide, and it also becomes apparent that Michael has been her enabler by "wringing her out" as he says; fixing things when her drinking gets out of hand.’
     • ‘You've turned him into your spiritual project, and, ironically, you're nothing more than an enabler for his own negative pattern.’
     • ‘Cutting them off and not being an enabler is often the most loving thing you can do.’
     • ‘My mom is a classic codependent and enabler.’
     • ‘If you buy drugs for such an event, you are an enabler.’
     • ‘You want to feel included and embraced in your group, but what you're really doing is serving as the "enabler" of negative relationships.’
     • ‘To do otherwise essentially makes Washington the enabler in a terribly dysfunctional relationship that victimizes poor and minority children.’
     • ‘I don't want this to become an enabler for them.’
     • ‘If, say, a man in a family is alcoholic and his wife is the enabler, she's the one that goes out and buys the alcohol for him.’
     • ‘My father was an essentially passive man and classic enabler who, although kind by himself, always supported mom and did not exert himself to protect us.’
     • ‘It makes you an enabler of destructive behavior - and that's even worse than throwing your hands up in the air and walking away.’