enchain
Americanverb (used with object)
-
enchains,
present (3rd person singular)
-
enchained,
past participle, past
-
enchaining
present participle
-
to bind in or as in chain or chains; fetter; restrain.
to be enchained by ignorance and superstition.
-
to hold fast, as the attention.
verb
-
to bind with chains
-
to hold fast or captivate (the attention, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
enchainsimple
-
enchainssimple
-
have enchainedperfect
-
has enchainedperfect
-
am enchainingprogressive
-
are enchainingprogressive
-
is enchainingprogressive
-
have been enchainingperfect progressive
-
has been enchainingperfect progressive
Past
-
enchainedsimple
-
had enchainedperfect
-
was enchainingprogressive
-
were enchainingprogressive
-
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
In the cold one of her adopted parents lay no charm which should be able to enchain her destiny; but a mother's every silent wish must become a blessing.
From Withered Leaves. Vol. I. (of III) A Novel by Rudolf von Gottschall
There was no detail to enchain attention, nothing to obscure free vision; the soul in him, grand super-bird, took flight.
From The Promise of Air by Algernon Blackwood
He was the most sagacious, most mysterious prince of his age; he had everything that enchains, corrupts, alarms, and attracts the world—arms, riches, glory, genius, religion.
From Holland, v. 1 (of 2) by Helen Zimmern
The king saw nothing; he heard the bullets hiss past him, the thunder of the cannon around him; but the varied living picture was wanting that enchains the mind with trembling excitement.
From For Sceptre and Crown, Vol. II (of II) A Romance of the Present Time by Johann Ferdinand Martin Oskar Meding
The willing listen to him from delight, the unwilling and opposite minded because he enchains them.
From The Prince of India — Volume 01 by Lewis Wallace
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
To be sure, you have no conception of that burning fiendish passion, which enchains and makes a man powerless--so surrounds him with its bonds, that for its sake he forgets and sacrifices everything.
From Riven Bonds. Vol. I. A Novel, in Two Volumes by E. Werner
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
Yet Berger's children of enchained emotions project their fancy into a world of living color, an incarnation of their wildest dreams.
From Time Magazine Archive
Eisman was enchained, however, by FrontPoint Partners and, by extension, Morgan Stanley.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
The Countess of Albany, by enchaining him in the bonds of what he called "worthy love," had saved him from any chance of fresh follies with these alarming "virtuous women."
From The Countess of Albany by Vernon Lee
After having been one of the chief authors of reform, he sought to give it stability by enchaining faction.
From History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 by M. (François-Auguste-Marie-Alexis) Mignet
‘I am inclined,’ he says, ‘to write a good deal; for there can be nothing so remembrancing and enchaining as a good long letter, be it composed of what it may.’
From Life of John Keats His Life and Poetry, his Friends, Critics and After-fame by Sidney Colvin
The question let loose in her heart and mind all that was emotional, at the same time enchaining her to the spot where she stood.
From The Pagan Madonna by W. H. D. (William Henry Dethlef) Koerner
"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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
