Meaning & use
conscription
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The system or practice of forcing people by law to serve in the armed forces.
Grammar: Uncountable noun: you say 'conscription was introduced', not 'a conscription'.
Patterns
- introduce conscription
- abolish conscription
- conscription into something
- conscription of someone
The country reintroduced conscription during the war.
Many people opposed conscription on moral grounds.
Conscription was abolished in the 1960s and the army became professional.
noununcountable
The act of officially ordering someone to join the armed forces.
Grammar: Uncountable; often followed by 'of' to name the people affected.
Patterns
- the conscription of someone
- conscription into something
The conscription of students caused protests on many campuses.
His conscription into the army interrupted his university studies.
Common combinations
- military conscription
- Military conscription was unpopular with young people.
- introduce conscription
- The government introduced conscription to fill the ranks.
- abolish conscription
- Parliament voted to abolish conscription in peacetime.
- oppose conscription
- Many religious groups opposed conscription for moral reasons.
- conscription into the armed forces
- Conscription into the armed forces was mandatory for men over eighteen.
Synonyms and how they differ
- draft
- The usual American term for conscription; in British English 'the draft' can also mean a first version of a piece of writing.
- call-up
- The act of ordering someone to join the military; it focuses on the individual order rather than the whole system.
- national service
- A period of required military service, often in peacetime; conscription is the system that makes it compulsory.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: conscription or conscription?
conscription vs conscription
Not to be confused with 'consecration', which means making something holy in a religious ceremony.
Practice
The government decided to reintroduce ______ to deal with the shortage of soldiers.
Choose one answer.
We need a noun after 'reintroduce', and 'conscription' is the noun. 'Conscript' is a noun for a person or a verb, so it does not fit; 'conscripted' and 'conscripting' are verb forms and cannot be the object of 'reintroduce' here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “conscription”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.