Enforcement

How to spell enforcement

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce enforcement

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does enforcement mean?

1. nounThe act of compelling observance of, or obedience to, a law, rule, or obligation.

Enforcement in a sentence

• Strict enforcement of the parking rules cut illegal parking near the school.

• The new contract clause has no real teeth without proper enforcement.

Where does enforcement come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back through the verb 'enforce', which English took from the Old French 'enforcier', meaning to strengthen or to compel by force. That French verb was built from 'en-', a prefix that turns a noun into an action (roughly 'to put into' or 'to make'), and 'force', which descends from the Latin 'fortis', meaning 'strong'. So at heart 'enforce' literally meant 'to make strong' or 'to give force to', and only later narrowed to the modern sense of compelling obedience to a rule or law. The abstract noun 'enforcement' was formed in English in the sixteenth century by adding the Latin-derived suffix '-ment', which names the act or result of doing something. The same 'fortis' root still powers everyday relatives such as 'fort', 'effort', and 'comfort', and remembering that the word is simply 'enforce' plus '-ment' helps fix the spelling, since no letter is lost or doubled at the join.

How the word is built

• en- (to put into, cause)
• force (from Latin fortis: strong)
• -ment (noun-forming suffix denoting an action or result)