Enclosure Meaning
/ɛnˈkloʊʒəɹ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounSomething that is enclosed, i.e. inserted into a letter or similar package.
nounThe act of enclosing, i.e. the insertion or inclusion of an item in a letter or package.
Sentence Examples
The point about enclosure is that the configuration of ethnic groups must be clearly described.
There are many kinds of animals inside this enclosure.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The farmer built a sturdy wooden ____ to keep the sheep safe from wolves.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The zoo built a very large ____ for the family of lions.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English enclosure, from Old French enclosure, from enclore, from Latin inclūdere, inclūdō, from in- (“in”) + claudō (“to shut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“key, hook, nail”). Alike to inclusion.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Mr Carlyle cut open the envelope, glanced at the enclosure, and in spite of his disappointment could not restrain a chuckle."
— 1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados:
"And the village was deserted, the huts gaped black, rotting, all askew within the fallen enclosures."
— 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199:
"Away from the village, there was an enclosure containing several large animals of a kind I had not seen before—shaggy, long-necked, small-headed creatures who stood or lay at ease around their pen. Alpacas?"
— 1989, Octavia E. Butler, “Part III, Chapter 7”, in Imago, page 210:
"Copyright, from day one, was designed to be both an impediment and an incentive, a mechanism of enclosure (one that prevented the unlicensed printing of texts, thereby limiting access) and a catalyst of sorts, a structure to stimulate the production of literary goods by rewarding writers and publishers for their labor."
— 2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 5, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:
"The commons evokes resistance to “enclosure” in all its forms, whether in its early proto-capitalist form of fencing in commonly shared land, or in its contemporary forms of marshalling judicial restraints such as “patent” and “intellectual property” to police the ownership of ideas."
— 2019, Robert Stam, World Literature, Transnational Cinema, and Global Media, Routledge, →ISBN:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The farmer built a sturdy wooden ____ to keep the sheep safe from wolves.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The zoo built a very large ____ for the family of lions.