Allows

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /əˈlaʊz/

Definitions

1. Enables or permits an action or event to take place
2. Gives approval or opportunity for something to occur
3. Grants the possibility or freedom for an activity or condition

Etymology: Anyone who has used "allow" to mean "permit" has used a word that, in its Latin roots, was about assigning a share. The Latin "allocare" meant to place something somewhere or to assign it, from "ad" ("to") and "locus" ("place"), the same root that gives English "locate" and "location." From it came the Medieval Latin "allocare" in the sense of allotting or assigning, which passed into Anglo-Norman as "alouer" and was merged with a second Medieval Latin verb, "allaudare," meaning to praise or approve. Middle English took the word from Anglo-Norman as "allowen" and "alowen," and the two strands are visible in its meanings: to assign or allot, and to approve or sanction. The sense of permitting carried the approval idea forward, so that to allow something came to mean to give it leave to happen. The verb is a doublet of "allaud" and "allocate," which came into English through the same Latin pair of roots by different routes. Note that a similar-looking Old English verb, "alyfen," and German "erlauben" come from an unrelated Germanic root, so the resemblance to "allow" is coincidental.

Synonyms: permits, enables

Antonyms: forbids, prohibits