Conscriptive

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or involving the compulsory enrollment of individuals into military or public service
2. Pertaining to the mandatory enlistment of persons into armed forces or civic duties
3. Associated with the enforced recruitment of individuals for military service or governmental roles

Etymology: "Conscriptive" is a plain formation: the adjective "conscript" with the suffix "-ive," which turns a word into one meaning "tending toward" or "having the character of" the base idea. Here the base is the verb "conscript," meaning to enlist or enroll people by compulsion, usually for military service. Adding "-ive" gives a sense of something that carries out, or belongs to, such forced enrollment. The base itself comes from Latin "conscribere," meaning to enroll or write down together, built from "com-" (together) and "scribere" (to write). The idea of enrolling is literally a matter of writing names into a list, which is why the root word is tied to registers and records. The suffix "-ive" arrived in English through Old French from Latin "-ivus."

Synonyms: compulsory, mandatory

Antonyms: voluntary