enlist
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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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:
“The political branches or other international actors may well provide redress. But we decline to distort the statutory text or the Constitution’s allocation of powers to enlist U.S. courts in that project.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
Ideally, an aging parent will enlist an estate-planning attorney to set up a marital trust and appoint a reliable trustee to carry out their wishes.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Bird enthusiast and Sevidov's best friend, Vyacheslav Kaistro, did enlist.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
On top of adding Toph to their ranks, Aang and his gang will also be working to enlist more allies in the war being waged by the Fire Nation.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
Willie tried to enlist in the army and was turned down; whereupon he threw up his job with the milk company, came home, announced that he was a failure, and went to bed.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
As the Court Poet, baritone Brian Major enlists the Stranger into the storytelling—their eerie duet as the voice of the evil fairy Carabosse is a striking musical moment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Kitty has a lot of baggage, including the area’s most famous criminal for a father, but Beth, who enlists her for the band, will help her unload it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 2026
He even enlists Rosalind in ”As You Like It” and Prospero in “The Tempest” to bid their audiences farewell.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2025
It followed a widowed father named Danny who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse and best friend Joey to help him raise his three daughters after his wife's death.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2025
In that picture Claude Barron enlists in the Foreign Legion because Rita Carrol marries another guy.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Karolina Urbanova had never heard of lumberjack sports until a new neighbour moved into her small Czech village and enlisted her help for events when she was a teenager.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
They traveled to Zurich, Switzerland, where they enlisted Dignitas, a Swiss nonprofit, to help Brian achieve a painless death.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
And now, the volunteers have enlisted the help of a far more common animal, by allowing cows to graze on the site.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Meta has enlisted Kylie Jenner in its campaign to convince us that Meta Glasses are a hot girlboss accessory.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026
The enlisted men quaked whenever he was in view.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Proposals such as enlisting Syria, vetting Lebanese troops or relying on Israel alone face steep hurdles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 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
We conducted focus groups to test-market our branding for the project, enlisting the pro bono help of PR professionals to fine-tune the message.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
