Word.ws English Dictionary

ring-fence

ring-fence is the alternative form of ringfence.

Meaning of ringfence

Verb

ringfence (third-person singular simple present ringfences, present participle ringfencing, simple past and past participle ringfenced)

  1. (transitive) To guarantee the safety of funds or investment. In particular, to ensure some degree of distinction for monies, that may provide immunity against untoward financial claims.
  2. (transitive) To specify that funds may only be used for a specific purpose, especially government funds.
  3. (transitive) To require workers to remain in (particular types of work), as during wartime.
    • As on the docks, a wartime Essential Work Order gave the miners a minimum weekly wage and 'ring-fenced' employment in the industry. This constraint was not removed until 1950.1999, Becky Conekin, Frank Mort, Chris Waters, Moments of modernity: reconstructing Britain, 1945-1964, page 89

See all 4 meanings of ringfence

Forms of ring-fence

third-person singular presentring-fences
present participlering-fencing
past participlering-fenced
pastring-fenced

Questions about ring-fence

What is ring-fence the alternative form of?
Ring-fence is the alternative form of ringfence.

Words near ring-fence in the dictionary

  1. ring-bone
  2. ring-bones
  3. ring-cake
  4. ring-cakes
  5. ring-dropping
  6. ring-fence
  7. ring-fenced
  8. ring-fences
  9. ring-fencing
  10. ring-finger
  11. ring-finger nail

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ring-fence (page history and authors); ringfence (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: “ring-fence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ring-fence. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.