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''enjoin'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250714004930-00-⌔

enjoin - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Verb

enjoin (third-person singular simple present enjoins, present participle enjoining, simple past and past participle enjoined)

  • (transitive, chiefly literary) To lay upon, as an order or command; to give an injunction to; to direct with authority; to order; to charge.
    • ✤ I am enjoin’d by oath to observe three things:1
    • ✤ to confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them […]2
    • ✤ At some landmark in the jungle the beater halted, pointed to the ground as a sign that this spot would do, and put his finger on his lips to enjoin silence.3
    • ✤ But to my surprise and no small concern, Queequeg now gave me to understand, that he had been diligently consulting Yojo—the name of his black little god—and Yojo had told him two or three times over, and strongly insisted upon it everyway, that instead of our going together among the whaling-fleet in harbor, and in concert selecting our craft; instead of this, I say, Yojo earnestly enjoined that the selection of the ship should rest wholly with me, inasmuch as Yojo purposed befriending us; […]4
  • (transitive) To prescribe under authority; to ordain.
    • ✤ They [the Noahide laws] also enjoin the establishment of a just system of laws and courts.5
  • (transitive, law) To prohibit or restrain by a judicial order or decree; to put an injunction on.
    • ✤ In 1983, BLM was enjoined by court order from using any herbicides in its Medford, Oregon District. Subsequent court action in 1984 enjoined BLM from the use of herbicides throughout Oregon and the U.S. Forest Service was similarly enjoined throughout Region 6 (Pacific Northwest).6
    • ✤ the judicial power of the United States had no power to enjoin the executive branch of the government from the execution of a constitutional duty or of a constitutional law7

Etymology

From Middle English enjoinen, from Old French enjoindre (“to join with”), from Latin iniungo (“to attach”), a compound of in- (“into” “upon”) and iungo.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɛnˈd͡ʒɔɪn/, /ɪnˈd͡ʒɔɪn/, /ənˈd͡ʒɔɪn/
  • Rhymes: -ɔɪn
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ix]: ↩

  2. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Esther 9:31: ↩

  3. 1934, George Orwell, chapter 14, in Burmese Days ‎: ↩

  4. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 16, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 75: ↩

  5. 2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 15: ↩

  6. 1989, U.S. Department of the Interior, chapter 1, in Western Oregon Program-Management of Competing Vegetation: Proposed Record of Decision ‎, Bureau of Land Management, page 9: ↩

  7. 1826, James Kent, Commentaries on American Law: ↩

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