enforce

B2 Topic:Law & Government

Also spelled inforce

US /ɪnˈfoɹs/ UK /ɪnˈfɔːs/ See IPA manual

verb Freq #14317

Meanings

1

verb
To make sure a law, rule, or agreement is obeyed.

The police are there to enforce the law.
2

verb
To force someone to do something or make something happen.

The new manager enforced strict deadlines on the whole team.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 verb · to force someone to do... compel

Word family

Forms enforcedenforcesenforcinginforced

Derived forms enforceabilityenforceableenforcedlyenforcement enforcerenforcinglyenforcivemisenforcenonenforcednonenforcingre-enforcereenforce

Common collocations

Etymology

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

enforcen Middle English enforcier Old French infortiāre la-lat

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Law & Government Actions & Processes

# enforce

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** ɪnˈfoɹs
**IPA (UK):** ɪnˈfɔːs
**Frequency rank:** 14317

## Meanings
1. To make sure a law, rule, or agreement is obeyed.
2. To force someone to do something or make something happen.

## Examples
- The police are there to enforce the law.
- The new manager enforced strict deadlines on the whole team.

## Derived Forms
- enforceability
- enforceable
- enforcedly
- enforcement
- enforcer
- enforcingly
- enforcive
- misenforce
- nonenforced
- nonenforcing
- re-enforce
- reenforce

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: enforcen
- Root: enforcier
- Root: infortiāre

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

## AI Etymology
Enforce comes from Middle English enforcen, from Old French enforcier, from Late Latin infortiāre, from in- + fortis (“strong”). In current use, the main senses are “To make sure a law, rule, or agreement is obeyed” and “To force someone to do something or make something happen”.

## Topics
- Law & Government
- Actions & Processes

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