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:
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
Going forward, courts may only enjoin enforcement to the extent necessary to give relief to the plaintiffs who brought the case.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2025
The department argues that “district courts lack jurisdiction to hear challenges arising from removal proceedings or to issue orders that enjoin or restrain execution of removal orders.”
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2025
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 Campbell House, included in admission, enjoins history buffs to self-tour an elegant 1900s mansion.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 7, 2021
The May federal ruling further enjoins “officers, agents, and employees” of WPM from “suppressing the availability of truthful negative comments or reviews through any means, including threats, intimidation, non-disparagement clauses, and suppression of online content.”
From Slate ● Nov. 8, 2018
The same document enjoins that the abovementioned masters, living together, shall attend lectures on theology, and shall be able, at the same time, to hear lectures on the decrees and decretals.
From Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, July 1865 by
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
On behalf of UCLA, attorney Ray Cardozo argued that Carter erred in enjoining the school from using its baseball stadium on the property even though it was not a named defendant in the case.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2025
“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
“Therefore, we find that the circuit court abused its discretion by permanently enjoining the State from implementing the Hope Scholarship Act.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 17, 2022
So her order on Monday enjoining the Department of Justice from using those materials in its ongoing criminal investigation until a special master completes his or her review was in some ways not a surprise.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2022
The Greek lawgivers were accordingly most explicit in enjoining upon children the nurture and support of aged parents who could otherwise expect little from the younger generation.
From A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on the Theory of Evolution by C. M. Williams
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.
