enchain
Americanverb (used with object)
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enchains,
present (3rd person singular)
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enchained,
past participle, past
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enchaining
present participle
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to bind in or as in chain or chains; fetter; restrain.
to be enchained by ignorance and superstition.
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to hold fast, as the attention.
verb
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to bind with chains
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to hold fast or captivate (the attention, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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enchainsimple
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enchainssimple
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have enchainedperfect
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has enchainedperfect
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am enchainingprogressive
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are enchainingprogressive
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is enchainingprogressive
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have been enchainingperfect progressive
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has been enchainingperfect progressive
Past
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enchainedsimple
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had enchainedperfect
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was enchainingprogressive
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were enchainingprogressive
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had been enchainingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of enchain
1350–1400; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French enchainer, enchaener. See en- 1, chain
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:
As Johnson wrote, “to enchain syllables, and to lash the wind, are equally the undertakings of pride, unwilling to measure its desires by its strength.”
From Slate ● May 31, 2012
Tie your knots, she sang again and again, enchain! — enchain! — enchain me!
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
At every approach of horseman, cart, or carriage, I turned fearfully, certain I should see some minister of injustice come to enchain us.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Genuinely, tenderly, and with a pervasive charm impossible to describe, the author tells the story of the old love, which returns to the woman’s life after the fetters of a loveless marriage enchain her.
From Dolly's College Experiences by Mabel Cronise Jones
Euripides was doubtless in his day a sensation dramatist, but the atrocities of Medea could not enchain me, with so much dreadful mystery afoot in my immediate neighbourhood.
From Lost Sir Massingberd, v. 2/2 A Romance of Real Life by James Payn
A voice less austere meanwhile enchains the captive ear of the poet.
From International Weekly Miscellany — Volume 1, No. 3, July 15, 1850 by Various
Love has Fetters stronger far: By Bolts of Steel are Limbs confin'd, But cruel Love enchains the Mind.
From The Spectator, Volume 2. by Joseph Addison
Rousseau enchains passion in its service, as Madame de la Fayette, as even Prévost, had not been able to do before.
From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 by George Saintsbury
A weird kind of beauty, too, that enchains us, and transfixes us as that of the deadly beautiful Medusa.
From Problematic Characters A Novel by Friedrich Spielhagen
Still less of a metaphor is it to declare that Macbeth enchains himself anew with every fresh crime.
From Wisdom and Destiny by Alfred Sutro
When we first encounter the character, enchained in the dungeon at the opening of Act II, Florestan rises from exhaustion and cries out, “Gott! welch’ Dunkel hier!”
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2017
“With regard to black people, I think they are tired of seeing themselves enchained and downtrodden.”
From New York Times ● May 18, 2016
If my imagination weren't enchained by so much witless tradition and conformity, I might tag this segment to some more majestic and impromptu pattern of my own devising, one that reaches clear across the ecliptic.
From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2012
In The Golden Bough, Sir James Frazer describes how a tribesman chosen to be king must be enchained and thrashed before his coronation.
From Time Magazine Archive
Eisman was enchained, however, by FrontPoint Partners and, by extension, Morgan Stanley.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Was there freedom, was there enchaining, was there even a height rising from higher.
From Geography and Plays by Gertrude Stein
As though by that monosyllable freed from an enchaining spell, Joan started, moved quickly to his side and held the goblet to his lips.
From Joan Thursday by Louis Joseph Vance
As the dance went on and she grew more and more like an untamed wood-nymph, even the caballeros became vaguely uneasy, hotly as they admired the beautiful wild thing enchaining their gaze.
From The Doomswoman An Historical Romance of Old California by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
The present book is a romance of the sword, full of charming local color, true to life as it is in Japan, and full of deep and enchaining interest.
From Ticknor and Company Book Catalog (1887) by Ticknor and Company
"Mr. Chillingworth had something to relate to him or to propose, of a nature which, perchance, has had the effect of enchaining all his attention—he called him from the room."
From Varney the Vampire Or the Feast of Blood by Thomas Preskett Prest
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