endow

[ en-dou ]

verb (used with object)

1. to provide with a permanent fund or source of income:

   to endow a college.

2. to furnish, as with some talent, faculty, or quality; equip:

   Nature has endowed her with great ability.

   Synonyms: endue, clothe, invest

3. Obsolete. to provide with a dower.

verb (used without object)

1. (of a life-insurance policy) to become payable; yield its conditions.

endow

/ ɪnˈdaʊ /

verb

1. to provide with or bequeath a source of permanent income
2. usually foll by with to provide (with qualities, characteristics, etc)
3. obsolete.
   to provide with a dower

Derived Forms

• enˈdower, noun

Other Words From

• en·dow·er noun
• re·en·dow verb (used with object)
• su·per·en·dow verb (used with object)
• un·en·dow·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of endow¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English endowen, from Old French endouer, equivalent to en- en- ¹ + douer, from Latin dōtāre “to dower,” equivalent to dōt- (stem of dōs ) “dowry” + -āre infinitive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of endow¹

C14: from Old French endouer, from en- ¹+ douer , from Latin dōtāre, from dōs dowry

Example Sentences

Instead, they point to the social dangers of endowing self-interested personalities with the money to buy unaccountable influence in conflict with the public interest.

From Los Angeles Times

Our revolution was based on a democracy where conceptually all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

From Salon

For breeders to make use of that diversity, however, they need to know which landraces could endow wheat with potentially desirable traits.

From Science Magazine

And so her just having that strength and passion and vision and endowing me and my little sisters with that, that became the baseline for our lives.

From Los Angeles Times

Goffredi has studied life around shallower methane seeps, such as worms endowed with symbiotic microbes capable of converting methane into energy.

From Science Magazine

Related Words

• bestow
• donate
• empower
• enable
• enhance
• enrich
• subsidize