enroll

English

Alternative forms

• enrol (UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand)
• enroule, enrowle, inrol, inroll, inroule, inrowle (Early Modern)

Etymology

From Middle English enrollen, from Anglo-Norman enroller; by surface analysis, en- +‎ roll.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈɹəʊl/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɛnˈɹoʊl/, /ɪnˈɹoʊl/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈɹəʉl/

  • Audio (Queensland):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊl

Verb

enroll (third-person singular simple present enrolls, present participle enrolling, simple past and past participle enrolled)

1. (transitive) To enter (a name, etc.) in a register, roll or list

   Synonyms: list, note, note down, record, register; see also Thesaurus:enlist

   • 1855–1858, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC:

     All the citizens capable of bearing arms enrolled themselves.

   • 1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC:

     An unwritten law of common right, so engraven in the hearts of our ancestors, and by them so constantly enjoyed and claimed, as that it needed not enrolling.

2. (transitive) To enlist (someone) or make (someone) a member of.

   Synonyms: enlist, sign up, subscribe

   They were eager to enroll new recruits.

3. (intransitive or reflexive) To enlist oneself (in something) or become a member (of something).

   Synonyms: enlist, join, join up, sign up, subscribe

   Have you enrolled in classes yet for this term?

   1. (education) To register as a member of an educational institution.
   2. (chiefly US, education) To register for a class or course of study.

      Synonyms: add, sign up

      • 2026 July 16, Nicholas Muhoro, “Inside the 2004 Brianna Maitland Case: One of Vermont’s Most Haunting Mysteries”, in Skip Boring‎^[1], archived from the original on 21 July 2026:

        Rather than stopping her education, she enrolled in a GED program so she could go to college.

   3. (Australia, New Zealand) To register to vote.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To envelop; to enwrap.
   • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:

     Our quiuering Lances ſhaking in the aire,
     And bullets like Ioues dreadfull Thunderbolts,
     Enrolde in flames and fiery ſmoldering miſtes,
     Shall threat the Gods more than Cyclopian warres, […]

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     enroll thy memorable name
     In th’ heart of every honourable dame

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 65:

     So then were nothing lost to man;
     ⁠So that still garden of the souls
     ⁠In many a figured leaf enrolls
     The total world since life began: […]

5. (intransitive, zoology) To curl up into a ball.
   • 2019 October 17, Jean Vannier et al., “Collective behaviour in 480-million-year-old trilobite arthropods from Morocco”, in Scientific Reports‎^[2]:

     Many trilobites (e.g.37), including Ampyx priscus (Supplementary Fig. 11) had the capacity to enroll as do modern terrestrial isopods when threatened.

Derived terms

• disenroll
• enrollable
• enrollee
• enroller
• enrollment
• nonenrolled
• overenrolled
• reenroll
• unenroll
• unenrolled

Translations

to enter (a name) in a register, roll or list

• Afrikaans: inskryf
• Arabic: يُسجِّل (yusajjilu, literally “(he) register(s)”)
• Azerbaijani: yazılmaq
• Bulgarian: записвам (bg) (zapisvam), регистрирам (bg) (registriram)
• Catalan: inscriure (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 註冊 / 注册 (zh) (zhùcè)

• Danish: indskrive, tilmelde, indmelde
• Dutch: inschrijven (nl)
• Finnish: ilmoittautua (fi), kirjoittautua (fi)
• French: s'inscrire (fr), s'enrôler (fr)
• Galician: anotarse, apuntarse, inscribirse, matricularse
• German: anmelden (de), einschreiben (de), sich immatrikulieren (de)
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌼𐌴𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (anamēljan)
• Greek: εγγράφω (el) (engráfo)

  Ancient Greek: ἐγγράφω (engráphō)

• Ingrian: kirjutaissa
• Italian: iscriversi (it)
• Japanese: 登録する (ja) (とうろくする, tōroku suru)
• Kazakh: жазылу (jazıluw), тіркелу (tirkelüw)
• Latin: conscrībō
• Māori: whakatapoko, whakauru
• Naga:

  Khiamniungan Naga: thǖkhúa

• Polish: rejestrować się impf, zarejestrować się pf, zapisywać się impf, zapisać się pf
• Portuguese: inscrever-se, matricular-se
• Russian: запи́сываться (ru) impf (zapísyvatʹsja), записа́ться (ru) pf (zapisátʹsja) (intransitive), регистри́роваться (ru) impf (registrírovatʹsja), зарегистри́роваться (ru) pf (zaregistrírovatʹsja) (intransitive)
• Spanish: enrolar (es)
• Swedish: skriva in sig
• Telugu: చేరు (te) (cēru)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: یازمق (yazmak)

• Welsh: aelodi

to enlist (someone) or make (someone) a member of — see also enlist

• Arabic: يلتحِق (yaltahiq, literally “(he) enrol(s)”)
• Azerbaijani: yazdırmaq
• Catalan: matricular (ca), enrolar (ca)
• Finnish: värvätä (fi)
• French: enrôler (fr)
• German: immatrikulieren (de), (jmd.) eintragen, (als Mitglied) aufnehmen, (jmd.) rekrutieren, (jmd., etw.) listen
• Greek: εγγράφομαι (el) (engráfomai)
• Italian: reclutare (it)
• Māori: whakatapoko, whakauru
• Portuguese: inscrever (pt), alistar (pt)
• Russian: (transitive) запи́сывать (ru) impf (zapísyvatʹ), записа́ть (ru) pf (zapisátʹ), регистри́ровать (ru) impf (registrírovatʹ), зарегистри́ровать (ru) pf (zaregistrírovatʹ)
• Spanish: enrolar (es)
• Swedish: rekruttere (sv)
• Swedish: rekrytera (sv)
• Telugu: చేర్చు (te) (cērcu)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: یازمق (yazmak)

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