enforce meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

enforce

verb

US /ɪnˈfoɹs/ · UK /ɪnˈfɔːs/

Etymology From Middle English enforcen, from Old French enforcier, from Late Latin infortiāre, from in- + fortis (“strong”).

12 senses

To keep up, impose or bring into effect something, not necessarily by force.

The police are there to enforce the law.
1929, Chiang Kai-shek, quoted in “Nationalist Notes,” Time, 11 February, 1929, Our task is only half finished. It will be my duty to enforce the decisions of the conference and I hereby pledge myself to that end.

1 more example

Far from needing to be repealed, the ban on politics in the pulpit ought to be enforced more aggressively.2013 September 8, “The pulpit should be free of politics”, in Los Angeles Times:

To apply a rule or enforcement action to a person or user account.

To give strength or force to; to affirm, to emphasize.

Obsolete To strengthen (a castle, town etc.) with extra troops, fortifications etc.

Obsolete To intensify, make stronger, add force to.

Obsolete To exert oneself, to try hard.

I pray you enforce youreselff at that justis that ye may be beste, for my love.1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book VII, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:

Obsolete To compel, oblige (someone or something); to force.

Sweete prince I come, these these thy amorous lines, / Might haue enforst me to haue swum from France, / And like Leander gaspt vpon the sande, / So thou wouldst smile and take me in thy armes.1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
Uladislaus the Second, King of Poland, and Peter Dunnius, Earl of Shrine[…]had been hunting late, and were enforced to lodge in a poor cottage.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection iv:

1 more example

In a few minutes I was stealthily groping my way down my own staircase, with a box of matches in my hand, enforced by scientific curiosity, but none the less armed with a stick.1899, E. OE. Somerville, Martin Ross, Some Experiences of an Irish R.M., Great Uncle McCarthy:

Obsolete To make or gain by force; to force.

to enforce a passage
Ne shame he thought to shonne so hideous might, / The ydle stroke, enforcing furious way, / Missing the marke of his misaymed sight / Did fall to ground […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 106:

Obsolete To put in motion or action by violence; to drive.

Auster and Aquilon with winged Steeds All ſweating, tilt about the watery heauens, With ſhiuering ſpeares enforcing thunderclaps, And from their ſhields ſtrike flames of lighteningc. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:
If they’ll do neither, we will come to them, / And make them skirr away, as swift as stones / Enforced from the old Assyrian slings:1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]:

Obsolete To give force to; to strengthen; to invigorate; to energize.

to enforce arguments or requests
[T]he eloquence of the declaration, not contradicting, but enforcing sentiments of the truest humanity, has left stings that have penetrated more than skin-deep into my mind […]1796, Edmund Burke, “Letter I. On the Overtures of Peace.”, in Two Letters Addressed to a Member of the Present Parliament on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France, London: […] F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […], published 20 October 1796, →OCLC, page 60:

Obsolete To urge; to ply hard; to lay much stress upon.

In this point charge him home, that he affects / Tyrannical power: if he evade us there, / Enforce him with his envy to the people, / And that the spoil got on the Antiates / Was ne’er distributed.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

Obsolete To prove; to evince.

But what argument are ye able to shew, whereby it was euer prooued by Caluin, that any one sentence of Scripture doth necessarily enforce these things, or the rest wherein your opinion concurreth with his against the orders of your owne Church?[1594], Richard Hooker, “A Preface to Them that Seeke (as They Tearme It) the Reformation of Lawes and Orders Ecclesiasticall, in the Church of England”, in J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], 3rd edition, London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, book I:

Derived terms: enforceability, enforceable, enforcedly, enforcement, enforcer, enforcingly, enforcive, misenforce, nonenforced, nonenforcing, reenforce, re-enforce, underenforce, unenforced