Word.ws English Dictionary

enter

Syllables: en·ter/ˈɛntə(ɹ)//ˈɛntɚ/

enter verb: to go or come into an enclosed or partially enclosed space. Also the alternative spelling of Enter.

enter: to go or come into an enclosed or partially enclosed space
Image: Jonas Bergsten, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

enter (third-person singular simple present enters, present participle entering, simple past and past participle entered)

  1. (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.
    • […]you can fynde in youre heartes to assaulte her with rebellion, or in any wise [ways] suffer any one eyvil motion to enter into your thoughtes against her?1555, John Proctor, The historie of Wyates rebellion, with the order and maner of resisting the same, …, page 86
  2. (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.
  3. (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.
  4. (transitive) To type (something) into a computer; to input.
    • Enter your user name and password.
  5. (transitive) To record (something) in an account, ledger, etc.
    • Each amount entered in the debit column of the journal is posted by entering it on the credit side/column of an account in the ledger.2003, A. Mukherjee, M. Hanif, Financial Accounting, →ISBN, page 27
  6. (intransitive) Used as a stage direction, usually preceding the name of the character who appears.
  7. (figuratively, intransitive) Used in the manner of a stage direction: to enter the picture, to become relevant.
    • I’m usually a shoulder bag kind of girl, just because it fits my vibe more. But when I’m on my feet for hours—running through crowded airports or touring a new city—the last thing I want to think about is my stuff. Enter: A good crossbody.2026 April 8, Megan Uy, “12 Best Crossbody Bags for Travel That’ll Hold All Your Stuff Without Messing Up Your Vacay Outfit”, in Cosmopolitan
  8. (intransitive) To become a party to an agreement, treaty, etc.
    • I am pleased to notify the Congress of my intent to enter into a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Government of Singapore.2003 February 4, The President of the United States, “NOTIFICATION TO ENTER INTO A FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH THE GOVERNMENT OF SINGAPORE”, in U.S. Government Printing Office, retrieved 09 Sep 2013
  9. (intransitive) To become effective; to come into effect.
    • This Act shall enter into force on 01 March 1998.2005, United Nations, Dispositions Législatives Et Réglementaires Nationales Relatives À la Prévention Et À L'élimination Du Terrorisme International, →ISBN, page 215
  10. To go into or upon, as lands, and take actual possession of them.
  11. (transitive) 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
  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.
Show 4 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (US, dated, historical, transitive) 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.
    • Under existing laws governing the qualifications of an alien to enter 160 acres or more of the public domain he is only required to file his declaration of intent to become a citizen.1887, United States General Land Office, Annual Report of the Commissioner of General Land Office, US Government Printing Office, page 82
  2. To deposit for copyright the title or description of (a book, picture, map, etc.).
    • entered according to act of Congress
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To initiate; to introduce favourably.
    • This sword but shown to Caesar, with this tidings, / Shall enter me with him.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...
  4. (formal, intransitive) To begin (a regular activity or job); to undertake; to take up.
    • […] I entered, that same day, on a regular occupation of pushing Miss Havisham in this chair […] round her own room, and across the landing, and round the other room.1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XII, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 199

Noun (1)

enter (plural enters)

  1. The action of entering; an instance of entering.

Noun (2) capitalized: Enter

Enter (plural Enters)

  1. The "Enter" key on a computer keyboard.
  2. A stroke of the Enter key.

Also used as

enter is also the alternative spelling of Enter.

enter meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

enter in Hindi

to insert
डालना ḍālnā, घुसाना ghusānā
to record
अंकन aṅkan
to go into (a room, etc.)
प्रवेश करना praveś karnā, भीतर जाना bhītar jānā

enter in Tamil

to insert
நுழை nuḻai, செருகு ceruku, புகுத்து pukuttu
to type into a computer
தட்டச்சு taṭṭaccu, தட்டச்சு செய் taṭṭaccu cey
to record
உள்ளிடு uḷḷiṭu
to go into (a room, etc.)
நுழை nuḻai, புகு puku

enter in Marathi

to go into (a room, etc.)
प्रवेश करणे praveś karṇe

enter in Urdu

to type into a computer
درج کرنا darj karnā
to go into (a room, etc.)
داخل کرنا dāxil karnā
More languagesFewer languages
enter in Bengali
ঢোকানো ḍhōkanō, ঢোকা ḍhōka, সামানো śamanō, প্রবেশ করা probeś kora
enter in Telugu
ప్రవేశపెట్టు pravēśapeṭṭu, ప్రవేశించు pravēśiñcu
enter in Kannada
ಪ್ರವೇಶಿಸಲು, ಪ್ರವೇಶಿಸಿ
enter in Gujarati
પેસવું pesvũ, પ્રવેશવું praveśvũ
enter in Sanskrit
विशति viśati
enter in Sinhala
ඇතුල් කරනවා ætul karanawā
enter in Assamese
ভৰোৱা bhorüa, সোমোওৱা xümüüa, সোমা xüma
enter in Nepali
पस्नु pasnu
enter in Tagalog
pumasok
enter in Arabic
أَدْخَلَ ʔadḵala, دَخَلَ daḵala
enter in Malay
masukkan, masuk
enter in Indonesian
memasukkan, masuk
enter in Persian
وارد کردن vâred kardan, درآمدن dar-âmadan, وارد شدن vâred šodan
enter in Thai
ป้อน bpɔ̂ɔn, พิมพ์ pim, เข้า kâo, เข้ามา kâo-maa
enter in Vietnamese
đi vào, vô, vào
enter in Myanmar
ဝင် wang

Examples of enter in a sentence

  • Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 3:5:
  • Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. … But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining".2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

All 40 example sentences with enter

Synonyms of enter

Antonyms

Forms of enter

Verb
third-person singular presententers
present participleentering
past participleentered
pastentered
first-person singular past (archaic)entred
second-person singular present (archaic)enterest
second-person singular present (archaic)entrest
second-person singular past (archaic)enteredst
second-person singular past (archaic)entredst
third-person singular present (archaic)entres
third-person singular past (archaic)entred
plural past (archaic)entred
past subjunctive (archaic)entred
present participle (archaic)entring
past participle (archaic)entred
alternative form (archaic)entre
Noun
pluralenters

Past tense of enter: entered

Origin of enter

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.

Words formed from enter

Phrases with enter

Words that rhyme with enter

47 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about enter

What does enter mean?
Enter means to go or come into an enclosed or partially enclosed space.
What is enter in Hindi?
Enter in Hindi is डालना (ḍālnā), घुसाना (ghusānā), अंकन (aṅkan). See Enter meaning in Hindi.
How do you use enter in a sentence?
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
What part of speech is enter?
Enter can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce enter?
Enter is pronounced /ˈɛntə(ɹ)/ (UK).
What is the past tense of enter?
The past tense of enter is entered.

Words near enter in the dictionary

  1. ententive
  2. entents
  3. entepicondylar
  4. entepicondyle
  5. entepicondyles
  6. enter
  7. enter into
  8. enter into the equation
  9. enter key
  10. enter keys
  11. enter on the boards

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: enter (page history and authors); Enter (page history and authors); enter (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-to enter.ogg, en-us-enter.ogg.

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