conscription

noun

con·​scrip·​tion kən-ˈskrip-shən 

: compulsory enrollment of persons especially for military service : draft

During the war the armed forces were heavily dependent on conscription.

Did you know?

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

young people who face conscription into the army

Recent Examples on the Web

Advertisement The country faces sharp divisions over the war in Gaza, judicial reform, and military conscription, among other issues. —Chad De Guzman, Time, 26 June 2025

Germany will turn to conscription if there are not enough volunteers for its armed forces, its defense minister said. —Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 24 June 2025

If anyone tries to get out of conscription, they’re hanged. —Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025

Putin has called up 160,000 men as part of the country’s bi-annual conscription drive as Russia seeks to beef up its military ranks. —Michael Dorgan, FOXNews.com, 1 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

see conscript entry 1

First Known Use

1800, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for conscription

• ascription
• decryption
• description
• egyptian
• encryption
• inscription
• prescription
• proscription
• subscription
• transcription
• circumscription
• misdescription