conscription
noun
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With its scrip- root, conscription means basically writing someone's name on a list—a list that, unfortunately, a lot of people usually don't want to be on. Conscription has existed at least since ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom (27th century B.C.), though universal conscription has been rare throughout history. Forms of conscription were used by Prussia, Switzerland, Russia, and other European powers in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the U.S., conscription was first applied during the Civil War, by both the North and the South. In the North there were pockets of resistance, and the draft led to riots in several cities. The U.S. abandoned conscription at the end of the war and didn't revive it until World War I.
Examples of conscription in a Sentence
Stylecaster Editors, StyleCaster, 5 Mar. 2026
Artists followed this trajectory until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine removed Moscow as an art-world destination as art workers fled the city out of protest or to avoid conscription.
—Anel Rakhimzhanova, Artforum, 1 Mar. 2026
Meanwhile, Russia experienced its own exodus, with young Russian men in particular fleeing the country to avoid conscription into the war.
—Joanna Kakissis, NPR, 24 Feb. 2026
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of men have sought to avoid conscription by leaving the country, hiding from authorities or exploiting legal exemptions.
—Elizaveta Gaufman, The Conversation, 21 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for conscription
Cite this Entry
“Conscription.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conscription. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.
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