enjoin
Americanverb (used with object)
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enjoins,
present (3rd person singular)
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enjoined,
past participle, past
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enjoining
present participle
verb
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to order (someone) to do (something); urge strongly; command
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to impose or prescribe (a condition, mode of behaviour, etc)
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law to require (a person) to do or refrain from doing (some act), esp by issuing an injunction
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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enjoinsimple
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enjoinssimple
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have enjoinedperfect
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has enjoinedperfect
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am enjoiningprogressive
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are enjoiningprogressive
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is enjoiningprogressive
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have been enjoiningperfect progressive
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has been enjoiningperfect progressive
Past
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enjoinedsimple
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had enjoinedperfect
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was enjoiningprogressive
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were enjoiningprogressive
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had been enjoiningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of enjoin
1175–1225; Middle English enjoi ( g ) nen < Old French enjoindre < Latin injungere to fasten to, bring upon. See in- 2, join
Explanation
To enjoin is to issue an urgent and official order. If the government tells loggers to stop cutting down trees, they are enjoining the loggers to stop. Enjoin looks like it should mean bring together, and at one time, it did have that meaning. But in current usage, the only thing enjoin brings together is a command and the person on the receiving end of that order. If your doctor enjoins you to stop smoking, he is suggesting strongly that you quit.
Vocabulary lists containing enjoin
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Romeo and Juliet
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act IV
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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:
“Courts cannot enjoin implementation of Executive Orders that leave open material issues that still need to be resolved by agencies,” he wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
The order would also “permanently” restrain and enjoin Musk’s trust from violating the section of the Exchange Act that was the subject of this case, according to the text of the proposed settlement.
From MarketWatch ● May 4, 2026
Court of International Trade to enjoin the tariffs so businesses don’t have to pay them while litigation plays out and later seek refunds if higher courts rule them unlawful.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 8, 2026
Osha, an ex-Jedi Padawan, had already suffered from the violent loss of her entire family and struggles to keep her roiling emotions in check as Jedi teachings enjoin her to do.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2024
Some employers go further; instead of relying on the informal “money taboo” to keep workers from discussing and comparing wages, they specifically enjoin workers from doing so.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
“A Wicked Soul in Cherry Hill” enjoins us to remember.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2022
So, will you join in the battle to give every citizen the full equality which God enjoins and the law requires, whatever his belief, or race, or the color of his skin?
From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021
“The court hereby enjoins Defendants from executing Keith Nelson until they have met the requirements of the FDCA,” Chutkan wrote.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 27, 2020
The government argued that if the court enjoins Bolton, then its order should also bind his publisher, Simon & Schuster.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 17, 2020
Gray enjoins that all secular persons shall be removed from the cloister precincts, “... males to wit, who have passed their tenth year, or females who have passed their fourteenth.”
From Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 by Eileen Power
Confronted with the rules of fair play, the reader was enjoined to solve the case alongside the detective, which required seeing through the author’s sleights of hand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
“If you’re not actually doing what the District Court found you to be doing and enjoined you from doing, then there should be no harm,” Sung said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2025
When they stop individuals with no reasonable suspicion, they act in violation of federal law, and a court in California has enjoined this practice.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2025
“Nor has the Government adequately identified which particular provisions, if any, are sufficiently independent of the enjoined definitional provision and thus might be able to remain in effect,” reads the ruling.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2024
In contrast to Wilkins, Farmer backed the students’ efforts 100 percent and enjoined every man, woman, and child in St. Joseph’s to participate in the direct-action campaign in any way possible.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
In the book of Genesis, God sealed the covenant with Abraham by enjoining him to “circumscribe the flesh of your foreskin.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
“This broad displacement contradicts what B.P.J. told the court a few months ago — that not one ‘single person’ would be harmed by enjoining this validly enacted state law.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 12, 2023
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered them released last week while it considers whether the group should remain subject to the restraining order enjoining it from accessing or using Konnech’s data.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 16, 2022
Both complaints request a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining defendants from rejecting these ballots.
From Slate ● Nov. 8, 2022
Near the entrance of the cave, shadowy forms kept constant watch, gently shaking great bunches of poppies, and, with finger to lips, enjoining silence on all who ventured near.
From Myths of Greece and Rome Narrated with Special Reference to Literature and Art by H. A. (H?l?ne Adeline) Guerber
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