Word.ws English Dictionary

ensue

/ɪnˈsjuː/US/ɪnˈsuː/

ensue verb: to follow (a leader, inclination etc.).

Verb

ensue (third-person singular simple present ensues, present participle ensuing, simple past and past participle ensued)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To follow (a leader, inclination etc.).
    • to ripenesse of mans state they grew: / Then shewing forth signes of their fathers blood, / They loued armes, and knighthood did ensew, / Seeking aduentures [...].1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii
    • To ensue his example in doynge the like mischiefe.1606, G. W. Justine, transl., The Historie of Justine
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To follow (in time), to be subsequent to.
    • Oh how many changes are like to ensue this reformation!1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, Essays, III.11
    Synonyms:
    come after
  3. (intransitive) To occur afterwards, as a result or effect.
    • Give three freshmen six bottles of wine, and hilarity will ensue.
    • After ſo bad a beginning, whats like to inſue?1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act I
    Synonyms:
    arise, follow

ensue meaning in Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada and Vietnamese

ensue in Bengali

to ensue, begin
বাধা badha

ensue in Malayalam

അടുത്തു സംഭവിക്കുക, തുടർന്നുവരിക

ensue in Kannada

ಮುಂಬರು, ಉಂಟಾಗು, ಅರಸು, ಹುಡುಕು, ತರುವಾಯ ಸಂಭವಿಸು, ಅನಂತರ ಘಟಿಸು

ensue in Vietnamese

to occur as consequence
theo sau

Examples of ensue in a sentence

  • I love the one where he orders a cup of tea but then chaos ensues! LOL!
  • The police officer wounded the suspect during the fight that ensued.
  • When the new baby's rubber duck squeaked at the wedding, hilarity ensued.

All 40 example sentences with ensue

Synonyms of ensue

All synonyms of ensue

Forms of ensue

third-person singular presentensues
present participleensuing
past participleensued
pastensued
alternative form (archaic)insue

Past tense of ensue: ensued

Origin of ensue

From Old French ensu-, stem of some conjugated forms of ensuivre (“follow close upon, come afterward”) (French ensuivre), from Latin īnsequere, from īnsequi (“to pursue, follow, follow after; come next”), from in- (“upon”) (see in-) + sequi (“follow”) (see sequel).

Words formed from ensue

Words that rhyme with ensue

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ensue

What does ensue mean?
Ensue means to follow (a leader, inclination etc.).
What is ensue in Bengali?
Ensue in Bengali is বাধা (badha). See Ensue meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is ensue?
Ensue is a verb.
How do you pronounce ensue?
Ensue is pronounced /ɪnˈsjuː/ (UK).
What is the past tense of ensue?
The past tense of ensue is ensued.

Words near ensue in the dictionary

  1. enstyles
  2. enstyling
  3. ensuable
  4. ensuance
  5. ensuant
  6. ensue
  7. ensued
  8. ensues
  9. ensuest
  10. ensueth
  11. ensuing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ensue (page history and authors); বাধা (Bengali) (page history and authors); ensue (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ensue (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “ensue.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ensue. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.