Injunction

How to spell injunction

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce injunction

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does injunction mean?

1. nounA court order requiring a person or organisation to do, or to stop doing, a particular act.

Injunction in a sentence

• The company sought an injunction to stop the leak of confidential files.

• The judge granted an injunction preventing the demolition of the old mill.

Where does injunction come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb injungere, which combined in- meaning 'on' or 'upon' with jungere meaning 'to join, fasten, or attach'. To 'join something onto' a person came to mean imposing a duty or charge on them, so the late Latin noun injunctio carried the sense of a command laid upon someone. English took it up in the fifteenth century, by way of late Latin and Old French, first in the general sense of an authoritative order or instruction. Over time it narrowed in legal usage to mean a court order requiring a party to do or refrain from doing a specific act. The same jungere root sits inside everyday relatives such as 'join', 'junction', and 'conjunction', which is a useful reminder that the spelling keeps the 'junct' element intact before the -ion ending.

How the word is built

• in- (on, upon)
• junct (from jungere: to join, attach)
• -ion (noun suffix)