MEANING
To make sure a rule, law, or requirement is followed.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- enforce a law
- enforce standards
On the page
The council lacked staff to enforce the new standards consistently.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- enforce
- Past tense
- enforced
- Past participle
- enforced
- Present participle
- enforcing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- enforce
- Present continuous
- am/is/are enforcing
- Present perfect
- have/has enforced
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been enforcing
- Past
- enforced
- Past continuous
- was/were enforcing
- Past perfect
- had enforced
- Past perfect continuous
- had been enforcing
- Future
- will enforce
- Future continuous
- will be enforcing
- Future perfect
- will have enforced
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been enforcing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: enforce; enforces; enforced; enforced; enforcing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: enforces.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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