empower

Etymology

It is formed from English em- + power, the noun.^[2][3][4][5] It was also spelled impower, with the prefix im-.^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To invest with legal or formal power; to authorize: 1641, in Edward Dering's speeches in the House of Commons.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates this sense to 1648,^[4] Etymonline to the 1650s^[3] and the Shorter Oxford to the mid 17th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Within a few years of its first record the verb was also used for giving power more generally, making someone powerful (1643), endowing someone with a quality (1646) and giving the means to do something, to enable (1648).^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as to authorise or commission, and quoted Dryden and Swift.^[6] Etymonline notes that the word was used by Milton, Pope, Jefferson and Macaulay, but that its modern popularity dates from the 1980s.^[3] In later use the OED records especially the sense of giving people more control over their lives and circumstances, by increasing their rights or confidence.^[2] The noun empowerment is recorded from 1651,^[2] and in the sense of a group taking control of its own opportunities and rights by 1967, in discussions of the Black Power movement.^[3]

Timeline

• 1641 – to invest with legal or formal power; to authorize.^[2]
• 1643 – to give power to, make powerful.^[2]
• 1646 – to endow with a quality or ability.^[2]
• 1648 – to enable to do something.^[2][4]
• 1651 – empowerment.^[2]
• 1980s – the modern popularity of the word.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give someone legal or official power; to authorize: The committee was empowered to hire staff.^[7][8][4]
2. To give someone the ability to do something; to enable.^[7][8][2]
3. To give a person or group more control over their own life or circumstances, as by increasing their rights or confidence.^[2]

Word family

• empowerment

Related words

• power
• disempower

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins