enjoin
Americanverb (used with object)
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
But Sotomayor explains that federal courts have long exercised their authority to enjoin state and federal laws, including in cases dating back to the 19th century.
From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2025
It’s possible that the court could "enjoin" Trump from repeating the statements found to be defamatory, but it’s not clear that Carroll is asking for this, Lovell added.
From Salon ● Jan. 17, 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
The report enjoins Boeing, within the next six months, to “develop an action plan that includes a milestone-based approach that comprehensively addresses each recommendation.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2024
The order enjoins the government from further review and use of these documents for investigative purposes, not for purposes of intelligence classification and national security assessments.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 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
Freed finds an inventive way to handle Shakespeare's troublesome ending when Kate, her spirit broken, enjoins the headstrong women around her to gratefully succumb to their husbands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2018
A dash over a note enjoins the player to hold that note with the finger until it has received its full value.
From Piano Playing: With Piano Questions Answered by Hofmann, Josef
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
During that period, I would expect that pregnant families would likely file class-action litigation under Rule 23 to try to have the executive order enjoined on a classwide basis.
From Slate ● May 19, 2025
"I enjoined the defendants from taking any action to implement the so-called 'Fork Directive' pending the completion of briefing and oral argument on the issues," said O'Toole in a hearing on Thursday.
From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2025
The state law also will continue to apply to California consumers if the FTC’s new rule is enjoined by a federal judge or blocked by Congress, Herrell said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2024
As might be expected, Serjeant Clippinger had no interest in the case, and enjoined me to cease my prim bickering.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
In the meantime, lower courts should test the limits of Slaughter by enjoining removals that hamstring agencies by denying them a quorum.
From Slate ● Jul. 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
I wondered: Instead of paternalistically enjoining Yolande to remain focused on her studies, what if Du Bois had engaged his teenage daughter as a young intellectual?
From Washington Post ● Apr. 6, 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
To Brother Public humiliation inflicted upon himself Peter Francis spoke, enjoining him under obedience not to contradict what he was about to say.
From A Source Book of Medi?val History Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the German Invasions to the Renaissance by Ogg, Frederic Austin
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.
