Enforce

English

Verb

Enforce (third-person singular simple present Enforces, present participle enforcing, simple past and past participle enforced)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To strengthen (a castle, town etc.) with extra troops, fortifications etc.
2. (obsolete, transitive) To intensify, make stronger, add force to.
3. (obsolete, reflexive) To exert oneself, to try hard.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VII:

     I pray you enforce youreselff at that justis that ye may be beste, for my love.

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

   The victim was able to enforce his evidence against the alleged perpetrator.

5. (archaic) To compel, oblige (someone or something); to force.
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, I.2.4.iv:

     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.

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

   The police are there to enforce the law.

Adverbs for Enforce

rigorously; arrogantly; rigidly; stringently; steadily; strictly; promptly; obstinately; sufficiently; aggressively; roughly; nominally; doggedly; painstakingly.

Synonyms for Enforce

compel, coerce, persuade, constrain, strain, drive, exert, execute, exact, require, urge, oblige, force, necessitate, press, impel.

Antonyms for Enforce

neglect, disregard, restrain, omit, drop, dodge, abandon, slight, overlook, dismiss, default, leave, quit, forego, renounce, give up.

Derived terms

• enforcer
• enforcement

Thesaurus

abide by, accomplish, adhere to, administer, apply, bestow, bind, bring to bear, browbeat, bully, carry out, carry through, cause, cause to, coerce, compel, complete, constrain, demand, discharge, dose, dose with, drive, effect, effectuate, enforce upon, execute, fill out, force, force upon, fulfill, give, have, honor, impel, implement, impose, impose on, impose upon, impress upon, inflict, insist on, insist upon, intimidate, invoke, lay on, lean on, make, make out, mete out to, oblige, observe, perform, prescribe for, press, promulgate, prosecute, put in force, put in practice, put into effect, put into execution, put on, put through, put to use, put upon, railroad, reinforce, render, require, restrain, stress, support, tie, transact, use force upon

Alternative forms

• inforce

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ɪnˈfɔːs/

  Rhymes: -enforce

Translations

to strengthen

Dutch: versterken (nl)

Finnish: vahvistaa (fi)

to intensify

Finnish: vahvistaa (fi)

to exert

to affirm

Finnish: vahvistaa (fi)

to compel

to keep up

Dutch: handhaven (nl) Czech: prosazovat (cs), vynucovat (cs)

Finnish: valvoa (fi)

The translations below need to be checked.

Translations to be checked

German: durchsetzen (1), bekräftigen

Spanish: imponer (es) (1)