enroll
Americanverb (used with object)
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to write the name of (a person) in a roll or register; place upon a list; register.
It took two days to enroll the new students.
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to enlist (oneself ).
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to put in a record; record.
to enroll the minutes of a meeting; to enroll the great events of history.
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to roll or wrap up.
fruit enrolled in tissue paper.
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Nautical. to document (a U.S. vessel) by issuing a certificate of enrollment.
verb (used without object)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of enroll
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English enrollen, from Old French enroller. See en- 1, roll
Explanation
If you like clowning around but you're not quite ready for the circus, you could enroll in clown college to perfect your skills. When you enroll, that means you formally add your name to the list — or roll — of students. You can enroll in things other than schools or classes, and you can also enroll someone else. You might enroll your Chihuahua in a research project investigating whether dogs like to wear hats, or you could enroll your rude nephew in charm school. The "roll" of enroll goes back to the rolls of parchment that were used in medieval times for writing official documents.
Vocabulary lists containing enroll
The Circuit
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Education and Academics, List 1
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"An Early Start on College"
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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:
And yet we could enroll students in two states right now, if we wanted to.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
“To help students enroll, persist, and graduate, we must provide the stability and support they need.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Construction is slated to begin in 2027, with the campus aiming to enroll its first students in 2028.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Even so, she was surprised when a family member contacted the laboratory hoping to enroll her dying father in the clinical trial.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
“Maybe she didn’t enroll but visited as a prospective student. Is there someone else she might have spoken to? Someone who might’ve given her a tour?”
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
Nearly one in four federal student-loan borrowers studying for an undergraduate certificate is enrolled in a program projected to fail the earnings test, according to PEER.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
In San Francisco, he enrolled his startup in a training program run by Y Combinator and met Altman, who was leading the incubator at the time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
For the first phase, researchers enrolled 16,808 people ages 18 to 70 in Denmark and Spain.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
Coverage would be universal, with policyholders automatically enrolled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Back in Soweto, my mom enrolled in the secretarial course that allowed her to grab hold of the bottom rung of the white-collar world.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
For the record, we are not enrolling students and have no intention of operating our new schools.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
So the Prides chose that one, moving to Silver Spring, Md., and enrolling their son in top educational programs for deaf children.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
The “10 Things I Hate About You” star was raised in Manhattan and began performing at a young age before enrolling at Columbia University—even as her Hollywood career was taking off.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
This past fall, the number of new international students enrolling in American schools fell 17%, according to a report in part by the Institute of International Education.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Not until Major Major was enrolling in kindergarten was the discovery of his real name made, and then the effects were disastrous.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
