enclosure

American  

[en-kloh-zher] / ɛnˈkloʊ ʒər /

Also inclosure

noun

enclosures plural

1. something that encloses, as a fence or wall.

2. something that is enclosed in or along with something else, as a photograph sent in a letter.

3. an area, such as a plot of ground or an indoor surface, surrounded by a fence, rope, or other barrier.

4. the separation and appropriation of land by means of a fence.

5. an act or instance of enclosing.

6. the state of being enclosed.

7. Roman Catholic Church. the part of a monastery or convent canonically separated or restricted as the living quarters of the religious, which a person may leave only with special permission or gain entrance to by special dispensation.

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enclosure British  

/ ɪnˈkləʊʒə /

noun

1. the act of enclosing or state of being enclosed

2. a region or area enclosed by or as if by a fence

3. 1. the act of appropriating land, esp common land, by putting a hedge or other barrier around it

   2. history such acts as were carried out at various periods in England, esp between the 12th and 14th centuries and finally in the 18th and 19th centuries

4. a fence, wall, etc, that serves to enclose

5. something, esp a supporting document, enclosed within an envelope or wrapper, esp together with a letter

6. a section of a sports ground, racecourse, etc, allotted to certain spectators

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonenclosure
  noun
• preenclosure
  noun
• semienclosure
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• enclosures
  plural

Etymology

Origin of enclosure

First recorded in 1450–1500; enclose + -ure

Explanation

An enclosure is something that closes you in, like a pen or a cage. When a cobra disappeared from an enclosure at the Bronx Zoo, the entire Reptile House had to be shut down until the snake was found. An enclosure can also be something that's included in an envelope with a cover letter of some sort. If you're sending a letter to your literary agent and you’re including a few pages of your latest limericks, you might put "enc." at the bottom of the letter, to indicate that you've included something extra in the envelope — an enclosure.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

enclosure enclosures

The parents of a three-year-old boy who was attacked in a crocodile enclosure say they are "amazed" at the progress he is making and that he is "smiling again".

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

There will always be franchises in markets where the outdoor tradition is too embedded in the team’s identity to abandon, or where the economics don’t justify the cost of an enclosure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

The tigers would start their new lives in a 40-hectare enclosure at the end of a red dirt track, some four kilometres from the nearest main road and local resident Lin Meng Ma's home.

From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026

A local authority has launched an investigation into the care of a man arrested after a three-year-old boy was seriously injured in a crocodile enclosure.

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

A member of the reintroduction team checks in on Xiang Xiang in his training enclosure.

From "Camp Panda" by Catherine Thimmesh

The region's Guigang Zoo asked the public for help on Wednesday to find at least 100 animals that had escaped after their enclosures were damaged, including alpacas, miniature pigs, and zebras.

From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026

"Public safety is a fundamental consideration in the licensing regime, including the suitability of animal enclosures and visitor barriers," they said.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026

Thousands were precisely reproduced for the cleaner enclosures of the Maginot’s scientific mission.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026

Part arch, part engineered shell, these dramatic enclosures solve multiple problems simultaneously.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

It’s got multiple enclosures now, and is bigger than it ever was before the war.

From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer

Related Words

• cage
• courtyard
• pen