Word.ws English Dictionary

enter the lists

enter the lists verb: to take part in a struggle or conflict.

Verb

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

  1. (UK, figuratively) To take part in a struggle or conflict.
    • ...my father, who was infinitely the better politician, and took the lead as far of my uncle Toby in the cabinet, as my uncle Toby took it of him in the field——convinced him, that if the king of Spain and the Emperor went together by the ears, England and France and Holland must, by force of their...1761, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XXV, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume III, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, pages 132-133

Forms of enter the lists

third-person singular presententers the lists
present participleentering the lists
past participleentered the lists
pastentered the lists

Questions about enter the lists

What does enter the lists mean?
Enter the lists means to take part in a struggle or conflict.
What part of speech is enter the lists?
Enter the lists is a verb.
What is the past tense of enter the lists?
The past tense of enter the lists is entered the lists.

Words near enter the lists in the dictionary

  1. enter key
  2. enter keys
  3. enter on the boards
  4. enter the chat
  5. enter the equation
  6. enter the lists
  7. enter the picture
  8. enter the scene
  9. enter'd
  10. enter-
  11. Enter.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: enter the lists (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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