enchain
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to bind in or as in chain or chains; fetter; restrain.
to be enchained by ignorance and superstition.
-
to hold fast, as the attention.
verb
-
to bind with chains
-
to hold fast or captivate (the attention, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
enchainsimple
-
enchainssimple
-
have enchainedperfect
-
has enchainedperfect
-
am enchainingprogressive
-
are enchainingprogressive
-
is enchainingprogressive
-
have been enchainingperfect progressive
-
has been enchainingperfect progressive
Past
-
enchainedsimple
-
had enchainedperfect
-
was enchainingprogressive
-
were enchainingprogressive
-
had been enchainingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of enchain
1350–1400; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French enchainer, enchaener. See en- 1, chain
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 Johnson wrote, “to enchain syllables, and to lash the wind, are equally the undertakings of pride, unwilling to measure its desires by its strength.”
From Slate ● May 31, 2012
Tie your knots, she sang again and again, enchain! — enchain! — enchain me!
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
At every approach of horseman, cart, or carriage, I turned fearfully, certain I should see some minister of injustice come to enchain us.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
His imagination could bear them to a giddy hight on its elastic wing, or he could enchain their judgment by the strong links of his logic.
From Sketches of Reforms and Reformers, of Great Britain and Ireland by Stanton, Henry B.
Doth not soon some power transcending War's fierce flames in bounds enchain, What will unconsumed remain?
From Vondel's Lucifer by Vondel, Joost van den
Yet enchains she not Others unto the like.
From The Legendary and Poetical Remains of John Roby author of 'Traditions of Lancashire', with a sketch of his literary life and character by Roby, John
Can this be delusion, or infatuation, or is it a species of witchery that thus deceives, enchains, and blinds a people, in all other respects of quick imagination and natural talents?
From Auricular Confession and Popish Nunneries Volumes I. and II., Complete by Hogan, William
Not worse when we have learnt to see so clearly, and most of us acknowledge that It is our will Which thus enchains us to permitted ill!
From Ideala by Grand, Sarah
The king saw nothing; he heard the bullets hiss past him, the thunder of the cannon around him; but the varied living picture was wanting that enchains the mind with trembling excitement.
From For Sceptre and Crown, Vol. II (of II) A Romance of the Present Time by Meding, Johann Ferdinand Martin Oskar
To be sure, you have no conception of that burning fiendish passion, which enchains and makes a man powerless--so surrounds him with its bonds, that for its sake he forgets and sacrifices everything.
From Riven Bonds. Vol. I. A Novel, in Two Volumes by Werner, E.
When we first encounter the character, enchained in the dungeon at the opening of Act II, Florestan rises from exhaustion and cries out, “Gott! welch’ Dunkel hier!”
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2017
“With regard to black people, I think they are tired of seeing themselves enchained and downtrodden.”
From New York Times ● May 18, 2016
If my imagination weren't enchained by so much witless tradition and conformity, I might tag this segment to some more majestic and impromptu pattern of my own devising, one that reaches clear across the ecliptic.
From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2012
In The Golden Bough, Sir James Frazer describes how a tribesman chosen to be king must be enchained and thrashed before his coronation.
From Time Magazine Archive
Eisman was enchained, however, by FrontPoint Partners and, by extension, Morgan Stanley.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Hence it is that Beethoven broke deliberately several, though not indeed very many, of Bach's more enchaining rules, while Mozart, in his operas at least, had a large amount of Romance worked into his music.
From War Letters of a Public-School Boy by Jones, Henry Paul Mainwaring
Baltic had the gift of enchaining his hearers, and the audience hung upon his speech with breathless attention.
From The Bishop's Secret by Hume, Fergus
Around them he grouped hostile, enchaining circumstances, which they confront fearlessly and, for a time perhaps, master, until the hour comes when they can no longer conquer.
From The Growth of English Drama by Wynne, Arnold
‘I am inclined,’ he says, ‘to write a good deal; for there can be nothing so remembrancing and enchaining as a good long letter, be it composed of what it may.’
From Life of John Keats His Life and Poetry, his Friends, Critics and After-fame by Colvin, Sidney
He can as truly deliver the body from the most persistent and enchaining habit, as he can wholly convert the mind and heart.
From The Wonders of Prayer A Record of Well Authenticated and Wonderful Answers to Prayer by Whittle, D. W. (Daniel Webster)
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.
