enshrine
Americanverb (used with object)
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enshrines,
present (3rd person singular)
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enshrined,
past participle, past
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enshrining
present participle
-
to enclose in or as in a shrine.
His love for her is enshrined forever in his poetry.
-
to cherish as sacred.
The memory of our friendship will be enshrined in my heart.
verb
-
to place or enclose in or as if in a shrine
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to hold as sacred; cherish; treasure
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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enshrinesimple
-
enshrinessimple
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have enshrinedperfect
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has enshrinedperfect
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am enshriningprogressive
-
are enshriningprogressive
-
is enshriningprogressive
-
have been enshriningperfect progressive
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has been enshriningperfect progressive
Past
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enshrinedsimple
-
had enshrinedperfect
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was enshriningprogressive
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were enshriningprogressive
-
had been enshriningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of enshrine
Explanation
If your mother enshrines your first drawing, she might frame it and hang it in a special place, as if it were a holy relic. To enshrine is to put something special, often religious, into a protective place. A shrine is a place considered holy because something special happened there or a case that holds sacred items. Places where people have claimed to see Jesus sometimes become shrines. When you enshrine something, it means you are creating a shrine around it, or you are giving it its own protected, revered space. This can be literal or figurative. At a funeral, the minister might say that the deceased will forever be enshrined in the memories of those who loved him or her.
Vocabulary lists containing enshrine
The Crossover
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Vocabulary from Hillary Clinton's Concession Speech, November 9, 2016
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Martin Scorsese on Cinema
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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:
I would enshrine gender equality in the Constitution, explicitly clarifying that the Equal Rights Amendment is part of our founding document.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
But the $850 million center will enshrine Obama's core message of "hope," said Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation and a former top White House aide during his presidency.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
Over the years, he helped various communities in some capacity to incorporate and eventually started working to enshrine the liberty cities model into law.
From Salon ● May 3, 2026
Investigative grand juries cannot return indictments against defendants, but they are often used to enshrine evidence and subpoena witnesses for a future criminal proceeding.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2026
Working as a lawyer in South Africa meant operating under a debased system of justice, a code of law that did not enshrine equality but its opposite.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Unions at the ILO say this by extension enshrines the right to industrial action, but employers disagree.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
In fact, Article IV of the treaty enshrines enrichment as an “inalienable right.”
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2026
It also enshrines separation of powers and judicial independence, and guarantees women's rights, freedom of expression and media freedom.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2025
The measure enshrines the text of the Ten Commandments found in the Protestant King James Version of the Bible.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
Misled by the fact that language often enshrines old beliefs and customs which have otherwise passed out of memory, they have forgotten that a metaphor is not necessarily a survival, or a survival a metaphor.
From The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia by A. H. (Archibald Henry) Sayce
The American Civil Liberties Union applauded the move over a practice it said conlifted with "human dignity, fairness, and the values enshrined in our Constitution."
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
Shaikh said they wanted to see the right to roam enshrined in the law as it was in Scotland when the Land Reform Act came into effect in 2005.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
We all grasp what it means to be an American and how that is enshrined in the Constitution.
From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026
The words “Anaheim Angels” are now enshrined in California law.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Silence had enshrined the subject of Olanna with each month, each year, that passed without their bringing it up.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Yousef, whose community strongly promotes gender equality, said she also wants to work on "defending women's rights and enshrining them in the country's constitution".
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
Pope Leo XIV on Monday warned that AI risked enshrining “an anti-human vision,” replacing jobs with dehumanizing work and consuming vast amounts of water and energy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
In the aftermath of the crime, newly minted fans of Mangione quickly fitted the man with revolutionary trappings, enshrining him as an avenger of working-class power.
From Slate ● May 1, 2026
City Council voted to designate the “Brady Bunch” house as a historic-cultural monument on Wednesday, enshrining the Studio City Midcentury as a piece of the city’s history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
Three years had scarcely passed since His baptism when the gathering storm outbroke, and the human body of Jesus paid the penalty for enshrining the glorious Presence of a Teacher more than man.
From Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser Mysteries by Annie Wood Besant
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
