Dictionary

enter

see also: Enter

Etymology

From Middle English entren, from Old French entrer, from Latin intrō, from intrā ("inside").

Pronunciation

(British) IPA: /ˈɛntə(ɹ)/
(America) IPA: /ˈɛntɚ/, [ˈɛɾ̃ɚ]
- (pin-pen, nt-flapping) IPA: [ˈɪɾ̃ɚ]

Verb

enter (enters, present participle entering; simple past and past participle entered)

(intransitive) To go or come into an enclosed or partially enclosed space.
You should knock before you enter, unless you want to see me naked.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, John 3:5 ↗:
  Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
- 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC ↗:
  In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass. […] Strangers might enter the room, but they were made to feel that they were there on sufferance: they were received with distance and suspicion.
(transitive) To cause to go (into), or to be received (into); to put in; to insert; to cause to be admitted.
to enter a knife into a piece of wood
to enter a boy at college, a horse for a race, etc.
(figuratively) To go or come into (a state or profession).
My twelve-year-old son will be entering his teens next year.
She had planned to enter the legal profession.
(transitive) To type (something) into a computer; to input.
Enter your user name and password.
(transitive) To record (something) in an account, ledger, etc.
(intransitive, law) To become a party to an agreement, treaty, etc.
(law, intransitive) To become effective; to come into effect.
(legal) To go into or upon, as lands, and take actual possession of them.
(transitive, legal) To place in regular form before the court, usually in writing; to put upon record in proper from and order
to enter a writ, appearance, rule, or judgment
To make report of (a vessel or its cargo) at the custom house; to submit a statement of (imported goods), with the original invoices, to the proper customs officer for estimating the duties. See entry.
(transitive, US, dated, historical) To file, or register with the land office, the required particulars concerning (a quantity of public land) in order to entitle a person to a right of preemption.
To deposit for copyright the title or description of (a book, picture, map, etc.).
entered according to act of Congress
(transitive, obsolete) To initiate; to introduce favourably.
- c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
  This sword but shown to Caesar, with this tidings, / Shall enter me with him.

Conjugation

Conjugation of enter

infinitive	(to) enter
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	enter	entered, entred^†
2nd-person singular	enter, enterest^†, entrest^†	entered, enteredst^†, entredst^†
3rd-person singular	enters, entres^†	entered, entred^†
plural	enter	entered, entred^†

subjunctive	enter	entered, entred^†

imperative	enter	—

participles	entering, entring^†	entered, entred^†