enshrine
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to enclose in or as in a shrine.
His love for her is enshrined forever in his poetry.
-
to cherish as sacred.
The memory of our friendship will be enshrined in my heart.
verb
-
to place or enclose in or as if in a shrine
-
to hold as sacred; cherish; treasure
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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enshrinesimple
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enshrinessimple
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have enshrinedperfect
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has enshrinedperfect
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am enshriningprogressive
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are enshriningprogressive
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is enshriningprogressive
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have been enshriningperfect progressive
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has been enshriningperfect progressive
Past
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enshrinedsimple
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had enshrinedperfect
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was enshriningprogressive
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were enshriningprogressive
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had been enshriningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of enshrine
Explanation
If your mother enshrines your first drawing, she might frame it and hang it in a special place, as if it were a holy relic. To enshrine is to put something special, often religious, into a protective place. A shrine is a place considered holy because something special happened there or a case that holds sacred items. Places where people have claimed to see Jesus sometimes become shrines. When you enshrine something, it means you are creating a shrine around it, or you are giving it its own protected, revered space. This can be literal or figurative. At a funeral, the minister might say that the deceased will forever be enshrined in the memories of those who loved him or her.
Vocabulary lists containing enshrine
The Crossover
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Vocabulary from Hillary Clinton's Concession Speech, November 9, 2016
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Martin Scorsese on Cinema
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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:
But anxieties about growing diversity and rising indifference had convinced many Americans of the need to enshrine Christianity in the Constitution.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
The state’s true goal, he asserted, is to enshrine “local attitudes” and “a Hawaiian tradition” that “disfavor the carrying of guns” in public to prevent violence.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
Investigative grand juries cannot return indictments against defendants, but they are often used to enshrine evidence and subpoena witnesses for a future criminal proceeding.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2026
Washington should pressure Mr. al-Sharaa not only to enshrine equal rights for all communities in the constitution, but to guarantee meaningful representation in parliament, the cabinet and senior state institutions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
Working as a lawyer in South Africa meant operating under a debased system of justice, a code of law that did not enshrine equality but its opposite.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Vietnam's constitution enshrines a right to religious freedom, but the government tightly regulates religious organisations.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
The Home Rule Act enshrines these rights into federal statute.
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2025
Using a style of elegant lyricism, which enshrines tiny moments into glisteningly miraculous turning points, Erice lets the exchanges between the people he’s conceived play out without the need to advance the plot.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2024
The human rights declaration, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948, enshrines a standard for human rights and freedoms for all people.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 8, 2023
His body lying beneath it is the most sacred relic it enshrines for us now.
From Chronicles of the Schonberg-Cotta Family by Charles, Elizabeth Rundle
In the not-too-distant past, the Chargers had one of the NFL’s premier tight ends in Antonio Gates, enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame last summer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
That authority is, oddly enough, not currently enshrined in statute.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026
The US has granted citizenship to everyone born in the country since 1868, with the right enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, and bolstered by later US Supreme Court rulings.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
Our right to play sports at school was enshrined.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026
The Internet version of you becomes enshrined so that pathetic people like me can visit occasionally and try to pretend you’re not really gone.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
Pope Leo XIV on Monday warned that AI risked enshrining “an anti-human vision,” replacing jobs with dehumanizing work and consuming vast amounts of water and energy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
In the aftermath of the crime, newly minted fans of Mangione quickly fitted the man with revolutionary trappings, enshrining him as an avenger of working-class power.
From Slate ● May 1, 2026
Morocco's King Mohammed VI lauded the vote as "historic," saying "we are opening a new and victorious chapter in the process of enshrining the Moroccan character of the Sahara."
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2025
Moldovans go to the polls on Sunday in a referendum on enshrining Moldova's path to EU membership in the constitution - alongside the presidential election.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2024
Give me such evidence as this of their veneration for his memory, and none of your new-fangled nonsense about enshrining him in the hearts of his countrymen.
From The Kentuckian in New-York, Volume I (of 2) or, The Adventures of Three Southerns by Caruthers, William Alexander
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.
