enact

From Middle English enacten, from en-, from Old French en- (“to cause to be”), from Latin in- (“in”) and Old French acte (“perform, do”), from Latin actum, past participle of ago (“set in motion”).

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈnækt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ækt

enact (third-person singular simple present enacts, present participle enacting, simple past and past participle enacted)

1. (transitive, law) To make (a bill) into law.
   • 2023 December 27, Mel Holley, “Network News: Minimum Service Levels legislation comes into force”, in RAIL, number 999, page 14:

     The practical effect of the Government's new anti-strike bill on the rail disputes in Great Britain is awaited, after the legislation was enacted.

2. (transitive) To act the part of; to play.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     I did enact Julius Caesar.

3. (transitive) To do; to effect.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:

     The king enacts more wonders than a man.

• act

• “enact”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.