Enceinte

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An enclosure.

    "These labours upon Phœnician necropoli are of great importance. [...] M. [Louis Félicien] de Saulcy, one of the first travellers who has thrown light upon these necropoli, devoted himself to a very interesting examination of the tombs of the kings, of the prophets and judges, and upon the immense necropolis that surrounds Jerusalem, like a funeral enceinte."

  2. 2
    The line of works forming the main enclosure of a fortress.
  3. 3
    The area or town enclosed by a line of fortification.

    "S. W. Williams The suburbs are not unfrequently larger than their enceinte."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Pregnant. not-comparable

    "And the time was pressing, for the new queen was enceinte, and further concealment was not to be thought of."

Adjective
  1. 1
    in an advanced stage of pregnancy wordnet

Example

More examples

"And the time was pressing, for the new queen was enceinte, and further concealment was not to be thought of."

Etymology

From French enceinte.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.