About this episode
This episode discusses the word 'enjoin', its meaning, and usage in legal contexts.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 14, 2026 is: enjoin • \in-JOIN\ • verb Enjoining is about requiring or prohibiting. To enjoin a person is to direct or order them to do something. To enjoin an act or practice is to prohibit it; in legal contexts, that prohibition is by way of a judicial order. // Our guide enjoined us to take great care as we began our journey. // The court has enjoined the ban. // We were enjoined from speaking on the tour. See the entry > Examples: “Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit Thursday ... to put a landlord accused of providing unsuitable living conditions to his renters out of business. ... The lawsuit seeks restitution for impacted tenants and to ‘ enjoin the defendants from doing business in the District.’” — Gary Fields, The Associated Press , 13 Feb. 2026 Did you know? Enjoin has the Latin verb jungere , meaning “to join,” at its root, but the kind of joining expressed by enjoin is quite particular: it is about linking someone to an action or activity by either requiring or prohibiting it. When it’s the former at hand—that is, when enjoin is used to mean “to direct or order someone to do something”—the…
Topics covered
- language
- education
- vocabulary
Keywords
- enjoin
- verb
- legal order
- prohibit
Mentioned in this episode
Places: District
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