enforcer
[en-fawr-ser, -fohr-]
- a person or thing that enforces.
- the member of a group, especially of a gang, charged with keeping dissident members obedient.
- a person, especially a public official, who enforces laws, regulations, rules, or the like.
- Also called policeman. Ice Hockey. a physically intimidating or willingly belligerent player who is counted on to retaliate when rough tactics are used by the opposing team.
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Origin of enforcer
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
soldierguerrillaexecutionercriminalassassinperpetratorenforcerauthoritarianbullysticklertyrantdespottaskmasterclipperkillergunbutcherslayerdropperliquidatorExamples from the Web for enforcer
Contemporary Examples
Brunch is a catalyst, brunch is the enforcer of different-rules-for-the-weekend.
The next day, the enforcer made the girl “to ingest pills designed to induce spontaneous abortion.”
The PA has decided to take its job as enforcer very seriously these days.
He ended up landing a small role as an enforcer for a high-level gangster.
The 6-foot-4, 240-pound enforcer must have raged inside to have this physically unprepossessing woman send him away for good.
Historical Examples
Yet love of justice is strong, even in the strictest enforcer of discipline—when the enforcer is Anglo-Saxon.
Atlantic NarrativesMary Antin
The late Miss Clarke has well said “to argue this point would be enforcer une porte ouverte.”
Astronomical CuriositiesJ. Ellard Gore
As the system develops and our prejudices are abandoned, a method of policing must stand as an enforcer of international law.
Prize Orations of the Intercollegiate Peace AssociationIntercollegiate Peace Association
Stern represser of revolt, and enforcer of the law, was Gloucester himself a defaulter in these respects?
Humphrey Duke of GloucesterK.H. Vickers
Word Origin and History for enforcer
n.
1570s, agent noun from enforce. Meaning "intimidator" is from 1934, U.S. underworld slang.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper