enforcement

English

Etymology

From Old French enforcement, see enforce +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfɔːsm(ə)nt/, /ɛn-/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfoɹsm(ə)nt/, /ɛn-/
• Hyphenation: en‧force‧ment

Noun

enforcement (usually uncountable, plural enforcements)

1. The act of enforcing; compulsion.
   • 1555, Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], “The Seconde Booke of the Fyrste Decade to Ascanius Phorcia [i.e., Ascanio Sforza], Vicounte Cardinall. &c.”, in Rycharde Eden [i.e., Richard Eden], transl., The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, […], London: […] [Rycharde Jug for] Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC, 1st decade, folio 8, recto:

     [M]en lyued ſimplye and innocentlye without inforcement of lawes, without quarellinge Judges and libelles, contente onely to ſatiſfie nature, without further vexation for knowledge of thinges to come.

2. A giving force to; a putting in execution.
3. That which enforces, constraints, gives force, authority, or effect to; constraint; force applied.

Alternative forms

• inforcement (archaic)

Derived terms

• civil enforcement officer
• code enforcement
• debt enforcement
• enforcement agent
• enforcement authority
• law enforcement
• nonenforcement
• overenforcement
• underenforcement

Translations

act of enforcing; compulsion

• Bulgarian: принуда (bg) f (prinuda)
• Dutch: handhaving (nl) f
• Esperanto: eldevigo
• Finnish: täytäntöönpano (fi)
• German: Vollstreckung (de) f, Durchsetzung (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌰𐌲𐌲𐍅𐌴𐌹 f (gaaggwei)
• Hungarian: kényszerítés (hu), kikényszerítés (hu), kierőszakolás (hu)
• Indonesian: penegakan (id)
• Italian: applicazione (it), imposizione (it), attuazione (it), compimento (it), esecuzione (it), rispetto (it)
• Macedonian: извршување n (izvršuvanje)
• Malay: penguatkuasaan
• Portuguese: aplicação (pt) f, cumprimento (pt) m, coerção (pt) f, imposição (pt) f, observação (pt) f, execução (pt) f
• Russian: принужде́ние (ru) n (prinuždénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: про̀ведба f

  Roman: pròvedba (sh) f

• Spanish: compulsión f, coerción (es) f, enforzamiento m

giving force to; a putting in execution

• Bulgarian: изпълнение (bg) n (izpǎlnenie)
• Finnish: täytäntöönpano (fi), toimeenpano (fi)
• German: Vollstreckung (de) f, Durchsetzung (de) f
• Hungarian: végrehajtás (hu), érvényre juttatás, érvényesítés (hu), betartatás (hu)
• Macedonian: извршување n (izvršuvanje)
• Plautdietsch: Bedwinjunk f
• Russian: осуществле́ние (ru) n (osuščestvlénije), исполне́ние (ru) (ispolnénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: про̀ведба f, спро̀вођење n

  Roman: pròvedba (sh) f, spròvođēnje (sh) n

• Spanish: ejecución (es) f, aplicación (es) f

that which enforces, constraints, gives force, authority, or effect to; constraint; force applied

• Finnish: täytäntöönpano (fi), toimeenpano (fi)
• Russian: правопримене́ние (ru) n (pravoprimenénije)

Further reading

• enforcement on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Enforcement”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “enforcement”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “enforcement”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “enforcement”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “enforcement”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.