Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To compel observance of or obedience to: enforce a law.
- v. To impose (a kind of behavior, for example): enforce military discipline.
- v. To give force to; reinforce: "enforces its plea with a description of the pains of hell” ( Albert C. Baugh).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To increase the force or strength of; make strong; strengthen; fortify.
- To urge or impress with force or energy; make forcible, clear, or intelligible: as, to enforce remarks or arguments.
- To gain or extort by force or compulsion; compel: as, to enforce obedience.
- To put or keep in force; compel obedience to; cause to be executed or performed: as, to enforce laws or rules.
- To discharge with force; hurl; throw.
- To impel; constrain; force.
- To press or urge, as with a charge.
- To prove; evince.
- To force; violate; ravish.
- Reflexively, to strain one's self; put forth one's greatest exertion.
- Synonyms Extort, etc. See exact, v. t.
- To grow strong; become fierce or active; increase.
- To strive; exert one's self.
- To make headway.
- n. Force; strength; power.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To put force upon; to force; to constrain; to compel.
- v. To make or gain by force; to obtain by force.
- v. To put in motion or action by violence; to drive.
- v. To give force to; to strengthen; to invigorate; to urge with energy.
- v. To put in force; to cause to take effect; to give effect to; to execute with vigor.
- v. To urge; to ply hard; to lay much stress upon.
- v. obsolete To attempt by force.
- v. rare To prove; to evince.
- v. obsolete To strengthen; to grow strong.
- n. obsolete Force; strength; power.
WordNet 3.0
- v. compel to behave in a certain way
- v. ensure observance of laws and rules
Etymologies
- From Old French enforcier, from Late Latin infortiāre, from in- + fortis ("strong"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English enforcen, from Old French enforcier, to exert force, compel, and from enforcir, to strengthen : en-, causative pref.; see en-1 + force, strength; see force. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The Obama administration won a temporary stay against the moratorium on "don't ask, don't tell" Wednesday, granting the Pentagon the right to once again enforce the 17-year-old ban on gay men and women serving openly in the military.”
The Washington Post: Military wins temporary reprieve for 'don't ask' policy
“The executive has to set priorities and if a law that makes sick people sicker, puts honest people in jail, costs a lot of money, has almost no discernible benefits, and that you promised not to enforce is not a good candidate for the bottom of the pile, what is?”
“Be easy to enforce from a small fixed wing aircraft.”
“• Military wins temporary reprieve for 'don't ask' policy: The Obama administration won a temporary stay against the moratorium on "don't ask, don't tell" Wednesday, granting the Pentagon the right to once again enforce the 17-year-old ban on gay men and women serving openly in the military.”
“The military can once again enforce the 17-year gay ban after a three-judge panel on Wednesday issued a temporary stay of an injunction on the law and policy until the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals can further consider appeals by the Obama administration.”
The Washington Post: 'Don't ask, don't tell' back on; guidance revised
“A three judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday issued a temporary stay on a moratorium of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" law, meaning the Pentagon can once again enforce the 17-year ban on gays in the military while the Justice Department prepares an appeal.”
The Washington Post: Appeals court grants stay of 'don't ask' injunction
“The other rule to enforce is that no one could say anything negative about the other person's credentials or personality only their plans on the issues.”
“The idea that schools have the job of enforcing what family or society can; t enforce is a dangerous one.”
“Today before Congress General David Petraeus made his case as to why President Bush's plans for Iraq should remain enforce for the foreseeable future.”
“The only one of those I'm going to actually enforce is the first one, but if people want to consider themselves tagged and leave a comment, I'll go read random facts about them.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘enforce’.
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EU Buzz - ALL words and expressions
A combined list of
1. EU Buzz - single words
2. EU Buzz - collocations
3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active
collocation constituentsabsorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, Vespasian, languid, studied, judgment, dwindle, artifice, contribute, observe, sonorous, gladiator and 264 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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-forc-, -fort-
strength
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Vocab Last Semester Exam
evacuated, relief, ritual, belief, practice, reality, enforce, authority, react, exploiting, exploited, exploits and 25 more...
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to essay
good verbs for essays
incorporate, paint, project, present, utilize, enable, impact, influence, itemize, deduce, specify, list and 51 more...
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May12YR
Tweets
Looking for tweets for enforce.
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