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to conscript

to conscript

9 7.2
To force someone to join the army by law
  • verb
  • /kənˈskrɪpt/
translation icon : conscribir
  • The government decided to conscript eligible citizens to bolster their military forces.
  • conscripted soldiers
  • conscripted labor
  • men to be conscripted

Fighting for, you know, they, they enlisted or were conscripted into the forces and they fought and they died.

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Examples

Synonyms

to draft
vsto conscript
  • US
96 5.3

To require someone to join the army

forces people by law to serve at any time not only emergencies
to muster in
vsto conscript
  • Jargon
8.4

To officially add someone to the army as a soldier

forces people by law rather than merely enrolling them

Antonyms

391 2.0

To offer to help or do something without being paid

How Compulsory

to conscript
9 7.2
to draft
  • US
96 5.3
to call up
  • Specialized
29 4.4
recall
  • Formal
9 5.1
to volunteer
391 2.0

Surface Forms

conscript infinitive
conscripted past participle
conscripting present participle
conscripts third person singular

Morphology

conscript = script (opaque) = con + script

The combination 'con-' + 'script' does not transparently yield the meaning 'to force into military service'; the modern sense cannot be derived from the literal meanings of the parts.

Etymology

To conscript originally meant 'to write together' (from con- 'together' and scribere 'to write'), like putting names on a list for the army, and you can see the same root in scribe and script. So to conscript someone today is to make or force them to join the armed forces, often by law.