enchain
Americanverb (used with object)
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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
- enchainment noun
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.
Yet it’s an alarming way to express one’s intent for a woman who is already effectively enchained.
From Los Angeles Times
In one of Unferth’s omniscient, sweeping surveys of the industry’s technologically souped-up mechanics, its dystopia of automation, she pinpoints the irony of nature enchained:
From Los Angeles Times
Eight days later, a poorly shot hostage video aired by the Colombian channel RCN showed three distraught, enchained men pleading for their lives.
From The Guardian
At every approach of horseman, cart, or carriage, I turned fearfully, certain I should see some minister of injustice come to enchain us.
From Literature
When the lion Leo feels enchained, the universe intervenes.
From Salon
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.
