Enlistments

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process by which individuals formally join the military or similar organizations entails recruitment efforts to sign them up and may result in documentation of those engaged in service
2. The action of individuals pledging to serve in a military capacity involves formal agreements and recruitment activities while producing records of those committed to such duties
3. The acts of voluntarily joining armed forces through formal commitment and registration

Etymology: The plural "enlistments" is simply the plural of "enlistment," which is what the process of joining up is called. Its history is two words stacked together: "enlist" and the suffix "-ment." "Enlist" traces back to the Old French "enlister," formed from "en-" (in) and "liste," a strip or border, which English borrowed as "list." The original idea was of a roll or register: to enlist someone was to put their name on a list. The Medieval Latin "lista" carried the same sense of a strip of cloth or a border, and the "list" that means a roll of names ultimately shares that root. The suffix "-ment" came into English through Old French from Latin "-mentum," a noun-forming ending that turns a verb into the name of the action or its result. Adding it to "enlist" produced "enlistment," the act of enrolling, and the plural form simply counts multiple instances of that act.

Synonyms: recruitments, registrations, sign-ups

Antonyms: discharges, dismissals