enter
verb (used without object)
to come or go in.
enter
1 American
[en-ter]
/ ˈɛn tər /
verb (used without object)
-
enters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
entered,
past participle, past
-
entering
present participle
-
to come or go in.
Knock before you enter.
- Antonyms:
- leave
-
to be admitted into a school, competition, etc..
Some contestants enter as late as a day before the race.
-
to make a beginning (often followed by on orupon ).
We have entered upon a new phase in history.
-
Theater. to come upon the stage (used in stage directions as the 3rd person imperative singular or plural).
Enter Othello, and Iago at a distance.
verb (used with object)
-
enters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
entered,
past participle, past
-
entering
present participle
-
to come or go into.
He just entered the building. The thought never entered my mind.
-
to penetrate or pierce.
The bullet entered the flesh.
-
to put in or insert.
- Antonyms:
- remove
-
to become a member of; join.
to enter a club.
-
to cause to be admitted, as into a school, competition, etc..
to enter a horse in a race.
-
to make a beginning of or in, or begin upon; engage or become involved in.
He entered the medical profession.
-
to share in; have an intuitive understanding of.
In order to appreciate the novel, one must be able to enter the spirit of the work.
-
to make a record of; record or register.
to enter a new word in a dictionary.
-
Law.
-
Computers. to put (a document, program, data, etc.) into a computer system.
Enter your new document into the word-processing system.
-
to put forward, submit, or register formally.
to enter an objection to a proposed action; to enter a bid for a contract.
-
to report (a ship, cargo, etc.) at the custom house.
verb phrase
enter-
2
American
enter
British
/ ˈɛntə /
verb
-
to come or go into (a place, house, etc)
-
to penetrate or pierce
-
(tr) to introduce or insert
-
to join (a party, organization, etc)
-
to become involved or take part (in)
to enter a game
to enter into an agreement
-
(tr) to record (an item such as a commercial transaction) in a journal, account, register, etc
-
(tr) to record (a name, etc) on a list
-
(tr) to present or submit
to enter a proposal
-
(intr) theatre to come on stage: used as a stage direction
enter Juliet
-
to begin; start
to enter upon a new career
-
to come into possession (of)
-
(tr) to place (evidence, a plea, etc) before a court of law or upon the court records
-
(tr) law
-
to go onto and occupy (land)
-
to file a claim to (public lands)
-
Usage
What does enter- mean? Enter- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “intestine.” The intestines are the long tract of the digestive system that runs from the stomach to the anus. Enter- is often used in medical terms, especially in anatomy and pathology. Enter- comes from the Greek énteron, meaning “intestine.” A scientific term for the digestive tract (alimentary canal) is enteron, which comes from this same Greek root. The word dysentery, literally meaning “bad bowels,” also derives from the Greek énteron. Enter- is a variant of entero-, which loses its -o- when combined with words or word elements beginning with vowels. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use entero- article.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
enterernoun
-
preenterverb (used without object)
-
enterableadjective
-
unenterableadjective
-
unenteredadjective
-
well-enteredadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
entersimple
-
enterssimple
-
have enteredperfect
-
has enteredperfect
-
am enteringprogressive
-
are enteringprogressive
-
is enteringprogressive
-
have been enteringperfect progressive
-
has been enteringperfect progressive
Past
-
enteredsimple
-
had enteredperfect
-
was enteringprogressive
-
were enteringprogressive
-
had been enteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of enter
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English entren, from Old French entrer, from Latin intrāre “to enter,” from intrā intra- ( def. )
Explanation
To enter is to go inside or into a place. When you enter your house after school, you might pet your cat and take off your shoes. You might enter the kitchen to see what's for dinner, or enter the library to look for a book to read. In both cases, you go from one place into another, through a doorway. If you're an actor, the word enter takes on a different meaning: to appear on the stage during a play. The stage directions might read, "Enter the King, stage left." Countries also enter wars, and people enter contests — they register or become involved.
Vocabulary lists containing enter
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Unsure of whether he would enter the world of management or media post-retirement, Shearer served as interim Newcastle manager in 2009 for the remaining eight games of the season.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
“Microsoft has demonstrated that engineering can unlock underutilized CPU and GPU capacity, but sustaining near-50% Azure growth will eventually require delayed physical infrastructure to arrive and enter production.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
"I'm the first person in my family to enter a doctoral programme and even with all the studying I've done, I still can't make it," she told Reuters.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
They insist the chief culprit is something else: an end to the flow into the U.S. economy of new workers from overseas — those who enter legally as well as those coming in illegally.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
And apparently Po, Brickbane’s mentor, had been so eager to enter the Afterlife, he’d stuck around to train Brickbane for only two hours.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
But in this, as in all speculative enter- prises, the prizes have been few and the blanks many.
From Everybody's Guide to Money Matters: with a description of the various investments chiefly dealt in on the stock exchange, and the mode of dealing therein by William Cotton
Slipping along here covertly as Time, Bathsheba fancied she could hear footsteps enter- ing the track at the opposite end.
From Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
The hope was that they could observe Kirk remotely enter- ing the computer and then identify the security breach.
From Terminal Compromise: computer terrorism: when privacy and freedom are the victims: a novel by Winn Schwartau
On enter- 193:3 ing the house I met his physician, who said that the patient was dying.
From Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
Soche a one was this Epaminundas, the famous Duke of Thebe, whose vertues gaue hym honour in life, and famous enter- prises, immortalitée of fame after death.
From A booke called the Foundacion of Rhetorike because all other partes of Rhetorike are grounded thereupon, euery parte sette forthe in an Oracion vpon questions, verie profitable to bee knowen and redde by Richard Rainolde
It was, however, the only company to have met its target for internal sewer flooding, or how often wastewater enters a property, every year since 2020-21.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Unlike a business that enters chapter 11 to reorganize, law firms that file for bankruptcy generally don’t survive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
Occasionally, however, the Sun enters much longer periods of reduced activity called "grand minima."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
He sits in a chair and enters what he calls “a zen state” as makeup manager Jeri Jones begins to apply the first of three prosthetic pieces to his face.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026
Chandresh Christophe Lefèvre enters not a single tent on opening night.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Together, these studies included 2,684 older adults who showed no signs of cognitive impairment when they entered the research.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026
In a statement dictated to her legal team, Pike said she entered her scheduled execution on Sept. 30 at peace and woke up several days later at a hospital, “confused and in pain.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Exxon and Chevron entered Friday with both stocks rising 52% this year, as BP’s American depository receipts have gained 45%.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
The Brewers entered MLB in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots, but the franchise moved to Milwaukee after only one season.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Max entered and set his bags next to my clothes and linens, acting like it was totally normal to show up alone with only his luggage.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Before entering politics, Lagarde spent 20 years as a corporate lawyer, eventually rising to become Chicago firm Baker McKenzie’s first female global chair.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
The Lakers turned the ball over five times in the third and wound up trailing 85-80 entering the fourth quarter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
Riot police were deployed to prevent any demonstrators from entering the court building.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
According to the Argentine migration authority, Bolsonaro boarded a private plane on Tuesday evening in northeastern Puerto Iguazu, 40 minutes after entering Argentina by land.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
The best reason he thought up was this: if Mother Water Monster had banned humans from entering her domain, then Nathan should respect that.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
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