Võimaldav

Võimaldav is an Estonian present active participle adjective formed from the verb võimaldama, meaning to enable or to make possible. The word denotes the characteristic of enabling or creating the possibility for a certain result. It is used as an attributive modifier for nouns and appears predominantly in formal or technical language.

Morphology and usage notes: The suffix -dav marks a present participle, and võimаldav agrees with the noun in number and case just like other Estonian adjectives. Common collocations include võimладав tehnoloogia (enabling technology) and võimладav lahendus (enabling or empowering solution). The form is productive in technical, policy, and planning texts, where the emphasis is on the capability that allows something to occur.

Semantic nuance: Võimaldav should not be confused with võimalik, which means merely possible. Võimaldav focuses on the enabling property—the means, conditions, or capabilities that make a result attainable—whereas võimalik refers to the end state of being possible. The participle often appears in descriptions of tools, methods, or processes that expand what can be done.

Examples in context: Võimaldav tehnoloogia describes technologies that create new possibilities or enable new applications. Võimaldav meetod refers to a method that enables certain outcomes. In discourse, the term helps frame solutions as facilitators of change rather than as end goals.

See also: võimaldama, võimalik, võimalus.