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
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
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
Had she not already learnt what it meant to be a good match, and to thus enchain the selfishness and calculations of every man with whom she came in contact?
From Partners A Novel. by E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers) Werner
Doth not soon some power transcending War's fierce flames in bounds enchain, What will unconsumed remain?
From Vondel's Lucifer by Joost van den Vondel
They have indulged in a Platonic romance since their childhood; but I will give you the means of breaking the charm which enchains my daughter's spirit.
From The Jew by Jo?zef Ignacy Kraszewski
There is nothing that so fascinates and enchains the imagination of men as power in another man.
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 7 by Charles Dudley Warner
He enchains the attention of his auditors from the first, and they hang upon his utterances with rapt eagerness until the close of the sermon.
From Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made by James Dabney McCabe
Not worse when we have learnt to see so clearly, and most of us acknowledge that It is our will Which thus enchains us to permitted ill!
From Ideala by Sarah Grand
Where Winter Scythia's waste enchains, And monstrous shapes roar to the ruthless storm, Not Phoebus' smile can cheer the dreadful plains, Or soil accursed with balmy life inform.
From The Poetical Works of Beattie, Blair, and Falconer With Lives, Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan
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
And all these marvelous changes imparted to love that sweet sadness which is beyond all words poetic and enchaining.
From The Man Between, an International Romance by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
If he could but get rid of his present standard of what is right and good in thought and language, and preach them with the enchaining fire with which he preached them once!
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 46, August, 1861 by Various
‘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 Russian literature, which is at present enchaining the attention of the civilized world, is a brilliant variation of this theme, an imaginative commentary on this text.
From Essays on Scandinavian Literature by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen
Around them he grouped hostile, enchaining circumstances, which they confront fearlessly and, for a time perhaps, master, until the hour comes when they can no longer conquer.
From The Growth of English Drama by Arnold Wynne
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