Meaning & use
empowering someone
Last updated
“empowering someone” is a form of “empower”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
phrasefixed phrase
giving a person more confidence, control, or power over their own life or decisions
Grammar: Used as a verb phrase; the object comes after 'empowering': empowering someone to do something.
Patterns
- empowering someone to do something
- feel empowered
- empowering women
- empowering people
The training program focuses on empowering women to start their own businesses.
Teachers play a key role in empowering students to ask questions.
She described the workshop as empowering because it gave her new confidence.
phrasefixed phraseformal
giving someone official authority or legal power to act
Grammar: Often used in formal or legal contexts: empowering someone to sign contracts.
Patterns
- empowering someone to act
- empowering a committee
The new law is aimed at empowering local councils to make decisions.
The board is empowering the CEO to negotiate the deal.
Word forms
| base form | empower |
|---|---|
| third person singular | empowers |
| past tense | empowered |
| past participle | empowered |
| -ing form | empowering |
Common combinations
- empowering women
- The charity runs programs aimed at empowering women in rural communities.
- feel empowered
- After the course, many participants said they felt empowered to speak up.
- empowering someone to do something
- Good managers focus on empowering their team to make decisions.
- an empowering experience
- Traveling alone was an empowering experience for her.
Synonyms and how they differ
- enable
- Enable means giving someone the ability or means to do something; empowering also adds a sense of confidence and control.
- authorize
- Authorize means giving official permission; empowering is broader and can mean giving confidence as well as power.
- encourage
- Encourage means giving support or hope; empowering suggests giving real power or control, not just moral support.
Opposites
Word family
- empower verb
- to give someone power or confidence
- empowerment noun
- the process of gaining power or confidence
- empowered adjective
- feeling confident and in control
Commonly confused: empowering someone or powerful?
empowering someone vs powerful
Powerful describes someone who already has power; empowering describes the act of giving power or confidence to someone else.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'empowering someone' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase takes an object and a to-infinitive: empowering young people to start. Option An is missing the object. Option C should be 'empowered' (feeling confident). Option D uses the wrong passive form; it should be 'empowered by his boss'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “empowering someone”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.