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enforce

[en-fawrs, -fohrs]

Example Sentences Origin

verb (used with object), -forced, -forc·ing.

to put or keep in force; compel obedience to: to enforce a rule; Traffic laws will be strictly enforced.

to obtain (payment, obedience, etc.) by force or compulsion.

to impose (a course of action) upon a person: The doctor enforced a strict dietary regimen.

to support (a demand, claim, etc.) by force: to enforce one's rights as a citizen.

to impress or urge (an argument, contention, etc.) forcibly; lay stress upon: He enforced his argument by adding details.

Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English enforcen < Anglo-French enforcer, Old French enforcier, enforc(ir), equivalent to en- en-¹ + forci(e)r to force

Related forms

en·force·a·ble, adjective

en·force·a·bil·i·ty, noun

en·forc·ed·ly

[en-fawr-sid-lee, -fohr-] , adverb

en·forc·er, noun

en·forc·ive, adjective

EXPAND

half-en·forced, adjective

non·en·force·a·ble, adjective

non·en·forced, adjective

non·en·for·ced·ly, adverb

non·en·forc·ing, adjective

pre·en·force, verb (used with object), -forced, -forc·ing.

qua·si-en·forced, adjective

un·en·force·a·bil·i·ty, noun

un·en·force·a·ble, adjective

un·en·forced, adjective

un·en·forc·ed·ly, adverb

well-en·forced, adjective

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
1. administer, impose, execute, apply.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Enforce is one of our favorite verbs.

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chat, to converse

to bark; yelp.

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Example Sentences

Several county sheriffs, who will have to enforce parts of the new law, have filed affidavits supporting the legal challenges.

The department of education has a near perfect record of creating rules that it does not and cannot enforce.

Legalize drugs, enforce the laws, enough of this b*lls**t.

EXPAND

Several county sheriffs, who will have to enforce parts of the new law, have filed affidavits supporting the legal challenges.

The department of education has a near perfect record of creating rules that it does not and cannot enforce.

Legalize drugs, enforce the laws, enough of this b*lls**t.

In addition, fisheries agencies will have to set tough quotas and enforce them.

Local officials now have flexibility to enforce the policy as they see fit.

It's also likely that taxation would be impossible to enforce.

Closing the form for responses is needed to enforce this.

When courts cannot be trusted to enforce contracts, people prefer to deal with those they have confidence in.

Animal-welfare groups argue that a better way to prevent rabies would be to enforce inoculation of animals against the disease.

Most current solutions try to enforce anti-bullying rules or simply remove the bully from bullying situations.

BeeJive has had to enforce its own measures to disable cracked versions of its software.

Once that threshold is met, accreditators can't enforce improvement.

Even the governor admits the bill is too broadly drawn and will be hard to enforce.

Over the years, the island city has tried to enforce various restrictions on the annual celebration.

God's not about morality, but about the power and status to enforce morality.

Elections are the surest option for the people to enforce their will and express their collective vision for their country.

The college took speedy and extraordinary steps to enforce this privilege.

Firms can set standards of behaviour for suppliers, but they do not find it easy to enforce them.

It's up to the pet industry to enforce them voluntarily.

Yet another government bureaucracy was born to enforce the quotas.

The job of states, companies and netizens is then to enforce those international norms.

The issues with people abusing the carry-ons is solved by having airlines actually enforce their own policies.

We are here to enforce international conservation law.

To help enforce the law, post signs announcing an idle-free zone.

If the world is cyclical, in a sense you still need a policeman to enforce the laws of physics.

Thus the role of the regulator is to set standards to enforce ethical behavior.

Being able to manage a system of closing down the mountain would be difficult to enforce.

Unless government can enforce wise soil conservation practices these areas are doomed.

Because chimps live in a society that can't enforce deals or punish cheating, surmised the researchers.

Police strictly enforce these speed limits with hefty fines.

There was indeed a call for tighter regulations and oversight of the building codes and those who enforce them.

Also it must enforce a lower limit than the current.

It says today's the deadline for signing up to compete next season, and it fully intends to enforce it.

In other words, the central government did not seem to have the means to enforce its own planning approval.

Essentially these primitive tribals seek to enforce their primitive customs on modern societies, no rational reasoning needed.

The police began carrying around decibel metres last summer to enforce new noise ordinances.

The remedy is obvious, of course: tighten up the rules here, enforce them more aggressively there.

Economic change is already undermining the government's efforts to enforce the policy.

Yet success depends not only on the strength of regulations, but also on the zeal with which local authorities enforce them.

Registering patents in many countries is both costly and time-consuming, and they may prove hard to enforce.

Insurance commissioners in half the states say they lack the authority to enforce consumer protection standards.

Also, there is a growing trend for administrators to lower the bar for their students rather than enforce established standards.

His job was to enforce rigorous standards in the handling of food for the troops.

They want to enforce their legislated definition of manners:.

China was found to have failed to protect and enforce copyrights and trademarks on a wide range of goods.

Create and enforce policies that disable the accounts of users who repeatedly post copyrighted material.

But park rangers enforce a broader range of laws than almost any other law-enforcement agency in.

It should enforce data deletion, and limit data collection, where necessary.

The majority of police officers, already overburdened, will probably enforce it only intermittently.

Such tidy-mindedness has proved difficult to enforce over the past three decades.

StratCom simply does not have the support to enforce such a ban indefinitely.

City and county officials risk fines and removal from office if they enforce their own firearms ordinances.

It also gave ordinary people an arsenal of new provisions to defend their rights and enforce the rule of law.

The new policy certainly is a good way to enforce obsequiousness to authority, but it's got nothing to do with security.

We're asking our police officers to enforce the rules''.

Wagner suggests that some colleges have been unnecessarily reluctant to enforce their codes of conduct when students violate.

It now focuses on boosting international accords and helping enforce them.

Attempting to enforce altruism will be ineffective because it doesn't propagate your genes transparently.

Apple can enforce whatever rules it wants on its own devices until it begins to dominate a market.

The law makes smuggling people a felony and effectively authorizes local police forces to enforce immigration rules.

They cannot enforce high standards, if they fear doing so will cost them their livelihood.

Local regulators interpreted them differently and many failed to enforce them.

Kingdoms also had the power to create and enforce laws.

US courts tend to strictly enforce such agreements.

But she said that on private property the police can enforce parking regulations only in spots set aside for the handicapped.

Develop policies you can live with and enforce them fairly.

If democracies decide to ban certain types of speech or to protect their citizens' data, they must be able to enforce their rules.

We are here to enforce the laws, not to do justice''.

He wanted a new sheriff in town to lay down the latest laws and enforce them.

To try and enforce this will likely be worse than doing nothing at all.

Its government does not enforce its regulations, and hotel development is taking place entirely uncontrolled.

What carbon trading does is establish and enforce a financial aspect to polluting, something that no polluter would willingly.

It is hard to enforce an embargo of metal pipes and fertilizer.

The federal labor board has sought to reinterpret and more vigorously enforce the rules governing employers and employees.

If you don't enforce the time limit, they won't practice for it, and they'll ramble on forever.

But they will ultimately be no harder to enforce than the business of net types and mesh sizes.

But laws are only as good as the will to enforce them.

Iowa should be commended for its initiative and encouraged to enforce the new law.

It would also be less expensive to change that policy than to enforce immigration policy at the college door.

They held vigilante patrols to enforce public morals.

The new government recently said it will again enforce a ban on illegal logging of rosewood trees, but many observers are cynical.

We have real grading and performance standards and enforce them, and flunk out a lot of students.

Then enforce house rules clearly so you become a clear pack leader to her.

They have to be willing to produce birth plans with the patient that they then read and enforce as much as they can.

If you enforce a policy, make sure that policy is in the course syllabus.

But the rule permits so many exceptions that it is nearly impossible to enforce.

And you missed a great opportunity to enforce your pack leader status.

With regards to the so-called stringent organic rules for manure, there is no one to verify or enforce these rules.

Colbert went on to his next joke about a plan-ultimately abandoned-to enforce an old anti-brothel law that would have forbidden.

By and large, the federal government leaves motoring restrictions up to the states to decide and enforce.

Probably the best deterent is to enforce the honor code and make sure that students know that you will.

It is possible that dollarisation can enforce discipline in what is essentially a failed state.

Not tenure but the failure to enforce employment standards by administration can produce permanent employment de-facto.

Some rules and a system to enforce them, then, are surely necessary.

The regulators that write the rules are best placed to enforce them by peer review.

Parents then, unfortunately, have to enforce the rules.

Faculty members who rigidly enforce policies on grading and deadlines are sometimes accused of being heartless.

Students will only pay attention to the rules if you enforce them.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

enforce (ɪnˈfɔːs)

—vb
1.	to ensure observance of or obedience to (a law, decision, etc)
2.	to impose (obedience, loyalty, etc) by or as by force
3.	to emphasize or reinforce (an argument, demand, etc)

en'forceable

—*adj*

enforcea'bility

—n

enforcedly

—*adv*

en'forcement

—n

en'forcer

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

enforce

mid-14c., from en- "make, put in" + force. Related: Enforced; enforcing.

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"... the struggle against sexism demands the destruction of the American state, and ... the immediate personal nature of sexism requires struggle against men who enforce that oppression as well as its institutions."

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