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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

enter.

To go or come into an enclosed or partially enclosed space.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈɛntə(ɹ)/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɛntɚ/General-American[ˈɛɾ̃ɚ]General-American[ˈɪɾ̃ɚ]
  1. To go or come into an enclosed or partially enclosed space.

    intransitive
    You should knock before you enter, unless you want to see me naked.
  2. To cause to go (into), or to be received (into); to put in; to insert; to cause to be admitted.

    transitive
    to enter a knife into a piece of wood
    to enter a boy at college, a horse for a race, etc.
  3. To go or come into (a state or profession).

    figuratively
    My twelve-year-old son will be entering his teens next year.
    She had planned to enter the legal profession.
  4. To type (something) into a computer; to input.

    transitive
    Enter your user name and password.
  5. To record (something) in an account, ledger, etc.

    transitive
  6. To come on to the stage during a performance. Used as a stage direction, usually preceding the name of the character who appears.

    intransitive
  7. To come on to the stage during a performance. Used in the manner of a stage direction: to enter the picture, to become relevant.

    figuratively · intransitive
  8. To become a party to an agreement, treaty, etc.

    intransitive
  9. To become effective; to come into effect.

    intransitive
  10. To go into or upon, as lands, and take actual possession of them.

  11. To place in regular form before the court, usually in writing; to put upon record in proper from and order.

    transitive
    to enter a writ, appearance, rule, or judgment
  12. 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.

  13. 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.

    US · dated · historical · transitive
  14. To deposit for copyright the title or description of (a book, picture, map, etc.).

    entered according to act of Congress
  15. To initiate; to introduce favourably.

    obsolete · transitive
  16. To begin (a regular activity or job); to undertake; to take up.

    formal · intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English entren, from Old French entrer, from Latin intrō (“enter”, verb), from intrā (“inside”). Has been spelled as "enter" for several centuries even in the United Kingdom, although British English and the English of many Commonwealth Countries (e.g. Australia, Canada) retain the "re" ending for many words such as centre, fibre, spectre, theatre, calibre, sombre, lustre, and litre.

noun/ˈɛntə(ɹ)/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɛntɚ/General-American[ˈɛɾ̃ɚ]General-American[ˈɪɾ̃ɚ]
  1. The action of entering; an instance of entering.

  2. Alternative spelling of Enter (“the computer key”).

    alt-of · alternative
  3. Alternative spelling of Enter (“a stroke of the computer key”).

    alt-of · alternative
Where this word comes from

From Middle English entren, from Old French entrer, from Latin intrō (“enter”, verb), from intrā (“inside”). Has been spelled as "enter" for several centuries even in the United Kingdom, although British English and the English of many Commonwealth Countries (e.g. Australia, Canada) retain the "re" ending for many words such as centre, fibre, spectre, theatre, calibre, sombre, lustre, and litre.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.