different between enforce vs require

English

Alternative forms

• inforce (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French enforcier, from Late Latin inforti?re, from in- + fortis (“strong”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: ?nfôrs?, IPA^(key): /?n?f??s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?f??s/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: ?nf?rs?, IPA^(key): /?n?fo(?)?s/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /?n?fo?s/
• Rhymes: -??(?)s
• Hyphenation: en?force

Verb

enforce (third-person singular simple present enforces, present participle enforcing, simple past and past participle enforced)

1. To keep up, impose or bring into effect something, not necessarily by force. [from 17^thc.]
   • 1929, Chiang Kai-shek, quoted in “Nationalist Notes,” Time, 11 February, 1929,^[1]

     Our task is only half finished. It will be my duty to enforce the decisions of the conference and I hereby pledge myself to that end.

   • 2013, “The pulpit should be free of politics,” Los Angeles Times, 8 September, 2013,^[2]

     Far from needing to be repealed, the ban on politics in the pulpit ought to be enforced more aggressively.

2. To give strength or force to; to affirm, to emphasize. [from 15^thc.]

   The victim was able to enforce his evidence against the alleged perpetrator.

3. (obsolete, transitive) To strengthen (a castle, town etc.) with extra troops, fortifications etc. [14^th-18^thc.]
4. (obsolete, transitive) To intensify, make stronger, add force to. [14^th-18^thc.]
5. (obsolete, reflexive) To exert oneself, to try hard. [14^th-17^thc.]

   • I pray you enforce youreselff at that justis that ye may be beste, for my love.

6. (obsolete) To compel, oblige (someone or something); to force. [from 16^thc.]
   • 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,^[3]

     Sweete prince I come, these these thy amorous lines,

     Might haue enforst me to haue swum from France,

     And like Leander gaspt vpon the sande,

     So thou wouldst smile and take me in thy armes.
7. (obsolete) To make or gain by force; to force.

   to enforce a passage

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 1, Canto 8, p. 106,^[4]

     Ne shame he thought to shonne so hideous might,

     The ydle stroke, enforcing furious way,

     Missing the marke of his misaymed sight

     Did fall to ground […]

8. (obsolete) To put in motion or action by violence; to drive.
   • c. 1589, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act IV, Scene 7,^[5]

     If they’ll do neither, we will come to them,

     And make them skirr away, as swift as stones

     Enforced from the old Assyrian slings:

9. (obsolete) To give force to; to strengthen; to invigorate; to urge with energy.

   to enforce arguments or requests

   • 1796, Edmund Burke, Two Letters Addressed to a Member of the Present Parliament: on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France, London: F. & C. Rivington, Letter I, p. 60,^[6]

     […] the eloquence of the declaration, not contradicting, but enforcing sentiments of the truest humanity, has left stings that have penetrated more than skin-deep into my mind […]

10. (obsolete) To urge; to ply hard; to lay much stress upon.
    • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act III, Scene 2,^[7]

      In this point charge him home, that he affects

      Tyrannical power: if he evade us there,

      Enforce him with his envy to the people,

      And that the spoil got on the Antiates

      Was ne’er distributed.

11. (obsolete) To prove; to evince.
    • 1604, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiasticall Politie, London, Preface, p. 9,^[8]

      But what argument are ye able to shew, whereby it was euer prooued by Caluin, that any one sentence of Scripture doth necessarily enforce these things, or the rest wherein your opinion concurreth with his against the orders of your owne Church?

Derived terms

• enforcer
• enforcement

Translations

Anagrams

• forcené

English

Etymology

From Old French requerre (French: requérir), from Vulgar Latin *requærere, from Latin requ?r? (“I require, seek, ask for”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???kwa??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???kwa??/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)
• Hyphenation: re?quire

Verb

require (third-person singular simple present requires, present participle requiring, simple past and past participle required)

1. (obsolete) To ask (someone) for something; to request. [14^th-17^thc.]

   • I requyre yow lete vs be sworne to gyders that neuer none of vs shalle after this day haue adoo with other, and there with alle syre Tristram and sire Lamorak sware that neuer none of hem shold fyghte ageynst other nor for wele, nor for woo.

   • 1526, Bible, tr. William Tyndale, Mark V:

     I requyre the in the name of god, that thou torment me nott.

2. To demand, to insist upon (having); to call for authoritatively. [from 14^thc.]
   • 1998, Joan Wolf, The Gamble, Warner Books:

     "I am Miss Newbury," I announced, "and I require to be shown to my room immediately, if you please."

   • 2009, Vikram Dodd, The Guardian, 29 December:

     ‘Regrettably, I have concluded, after considering the matter over Christmas […], that I can no longer maintain the high standard of service I require of myself, meet the demands of office and cope with the pressures of public life, without my health deteriorating further.’

3. Naturally to demand (something) as indispensable; to need, to call for as necessary. [from 15^thc.]
   • 1972, "Aid for Aching Heads", Time, 5 June:

     Chronic pain is occasionally a sign of a very serious problem, like brain tumors, and can require surgery.

   • 2009, Julian Borger, The Guardian, 7 February:

     A weapon small enough to put on a missile would require uranium enriched to more than 90% U-235.

4. To demand of (someone) to do something. [from 18^thc.]
   • 1970, "Compulsory Midi", Time, 29 June:

     After Aug 3 all salesgirls will be required to wear only one style of skirt while on duty: the midi.

   • 2007, Allegra Stratton, "Smith to ban non-EU unskilled immigrants from working in UK", The Guardian, 5 December:

     The government would like to require non-British fiances who wish to marry a British citizen to sit an English test.

Synonyms

• call for

Related terms

• requirement
• requisite
• request

Translations

Further reading

• require in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• require in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• require at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• querier

Interlingua

Verb

require

1. present of requirer
2. imperative of requirer

Latin

Verb

requ?re

1. second-person singular present active imperative of requ?r?