yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Enforce | Vocabulary | Khan Academy


2m read
·Nov 10, 2024

Hey, how do you do wordsmiths? This video is about the word enforce.

Enforce is a verb. It means to make sure that a rule or law is followed. You might usually hear it in the context of enforcing a law. Right? If I drive too fast, local authorities can enforce the speed limit by issuing me a speeding ticket.

Now, the word origin here is kind of a violent one. This word comes from the old French "enforcier," which means to use force on someone or something. So, "en" means in or on. When it's "en," 99% of the time that means it has a French origin, and sometimes it'll appear as "em" too.

Force means strength or power. It ultimately comes from a Latin word "fortis," which just means strength. So, when you enforce, you're using your strength on someone.

Let's take 10 seconds to come up with some more English words that contain "en" or "em" and "force." I'll put on some music, and I'll meet you back here in 10 seconds. Right? Let's do it.

[Music]

All right, here's three I came up with.

Reinforce, which means to strengthen something—right? To put more force in it.

Um, encode, which means to make information secret or to give computerized instructions. A spy might carry an encoded letter, or I might convert a video file from one file type to another using an encoder program. Right? I'm putting it in or into code.

And embolden, which means to give someone confidence, right? Literally to put boldness in them. And I know it's "em" there, but "m" means the same thing as "n."

Let us use the force, as it were, and make some sentences. The Admiral enforced the law on his enemies, but he ignored the law for his friends. So, the Admiral made sure that his enemies had to follow the law, but not his friends.

There he is, signing a little decree.

The noun form of enforce is enforcement, which you're most likely to read or hear in the phrase law enforcement. Which is to say the police, sheriff's department, Department of Justice. Right? Law enforcement is empowered to enforce the law. They represent the power of the state to say things like, "Hey, it's against the law to hurt people." And if someone hurts people, the law has the power to stop them. Right? That's what it means to have enforcement powers.

Okay, you can learn anything. David out.

More Articles

View All
Creating The First 3D Scan of an Endangered Species | Explorers In The Field
[Music] Things are disappearing at an increasing rate, both animals and cultural sites. 3D scanning is a way to digitally capture the world and make a copy of something. My personal mission is to build technologies to help explore the worlds and the disap…
TIL: Why Mars's Ocean Disappeared | Today I Learned
This is what Mars looks like today, and this is what it may have looked like 3 to 3.5 billion years ago. Notice the difference? Well, the planet was warmer and wetter, and it even had an ocean that covered the entire Northern Hemisphere. So where did that…
Butchering a Goat in Africa - Smarter Every Day 34
Hey, it’s me Destin. Welcome to Smarter Every Day. So, this video contains real world stuff, so no little eyes or no little ears. When my sister cooks in Africa, she can’t do what I just did. She can’t go to the fridge and just pull out a pound of ground …
What If Earth got Kicked Out of the Solar System? Rogue Earth
The night sky seems peaceful and orderly, but in reality, stars are careening through the galaxy at speeds of hundreds of thousands of kilometers per hour, not bound by static formations but changing neighborhoods constantly. Fortunately, space is big, an…
Why Top Investors are Warning of a 'Lost Decade' for Stocks
A few weeks ago, Goldman Sachs put out this note saying that they believe the S&P 500 during the next 10 years will deliver a real return of just 1% annually. It’s a bit of a dire prediction. As you may have seen in the news over the past few weeks, i…
Before Free Solo | Edge of the Unknown on Disney+
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] MAN 1: Morocco, it’s off the map. No one would know about it. This was a place where he could test himself, both physically and mentally with a massive amount of climbing. And then, he wanted to free solo one of the big walls at the e…