enlist
Americanverb (used without object)
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enlists,
present (3rd person singular)
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enlisted,
past participle, past
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enlisting
present participle
verb (used with object)
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enlists,
present (3rd person singular)
-
enlisted,
past participle, past
-
enlisting
present participle
-
to engage for military service.
to enlist men for the army.
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to secure (a person, services, etc.) for some cause, enterprise, etc..
They enlisted us to serve as ushers at the meeting.
verb
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to enter or persuade to enter into an engagement to serve in the armed forces
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(tr) to engage or secure (a person, his services, or his support) for a venture, cause, etc
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to enter into or join an enterprise, cause, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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enlistsimple
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enlistssimple
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have enlistedperfect
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has enlistedperfect
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am enlistingprogressive
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are enlistingprogressive
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is enlistingprogressive
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have been enlistingperfect progressive
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has been enlistingperfect progressive
Past
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enlistedsimple
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had enlistedperfect
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was enlistingprogressive
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were enlistingprogressive
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had been enlistingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of enlist
Explanation
To enlist is to voluntarily join the military. You may have seen television commercials or posters encouraging people to enlist. There are various ways people end up in the military. Sometimes there's a draft, which selects people whether they want to go or not. Sometimes people enlist, which means they sign up on their own. Enlisting also refers to recruiting or hiring people for some purpose or organization. If you are moving, you might try to enlist your friends to help — good luck with that.
Vocabulary lists containing enlist
Veterans Day Vocabulary
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Memorial Day: Words of Respect and Remembrance
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Code Talker
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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:
"As is well known, our people enlist voluntarily and sign a contract," he said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
And since things take a turn for the medical, Duffy’s oldest daughter, Evita, and her husband, Wisconsin Republican congressional candidate Michael Alfonso, enlist an ultrasound tech to reveal their unborn child’s gender.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
This included BTS members, who were at the height of their fame in 2022 when they started taking career breaks to enlist in the military.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Bugs Bunny and assorted Looney Tunes characters enlist superstar Michael Jordan’s help to defeat space aliens in a winner-take-all basketball game.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
He was, perhaps, genuinely attempting to enlist my help.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
This series sequel enlists Hunter Schafer and Michelle Yeoh to play rough in this dystopia, with Schafer as Cora, a human Blade Runner who teams with Yeoh’s Olwen, a fading replicant.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026
Citing a growing threat posed by transnational criminal organizations, President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum that enlists the help of the private sector.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
To help explain how Lincoln emerged to win the Republican nomination and the presidency, Mr. Earle enlists a journalist, Murat Halstead, as an eyewitness guide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
There will also be a rather literal interpretation of comedy series Amandaland that enlists a string of famous Amandas, and a performance from singer-songwriter Calum Scott.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026
I guess he enlists you to play, too.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
I enlisted my husband, who is a lawyer, to draft a more detailed appeal that included exhibits from my employer health-plan documents.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
She enlisted six other ranchers to join the legal brief and tell the court how climate change is affecting them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
He travelled in 2025 to Ukraine, where he enlisted in the country's armed forces and "gained access to information relating to their military personnel, units and locations", police allege.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
These factors can be overwhelming, for both enlisted troops and officers as well.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Born enslaved, John, Franklin, and William Jennings all enlisted and served.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
The exercise -- enlisting 18,000 South Korean troops and counterparts from US forces in the country -- will have a heightened focus on drone warfare, GPS disruption and the role of cyber attacks, he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Actually, it’s Stuart from an alternative universe enlisting him to restore things with the help of a malfunctioned quantum interference device created by Sheldon, Leonard and Howard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
However, he has subsequently adopted a more market-friendly stance, including enlisting a former Bank of England chief economist as an advisor.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
So she traded the Instagram-worthy, slime-making and sensory bucket activities that required hours of prep and started enlisting her kids’ help with household chores and gardening.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Coworkers got used to finding Mary standing quietly at their desks, enlisting them in her latest attempt to apply the engineer’s values of discipline, order, and progress to the social sphere.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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.
