What does conscription mean?

Definitions for conscription
kənˈskrɪp ʃəncon·scrip·tion

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word conscription.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. conscription, muster, draft, selective servicenoun

    compulsory military service

Wiktionary

  1. conscriptionnoun

    involuntary labor, especially military service, demanded by some established authority

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Conscriptionnoun

    An enrolling or registering. Dict.

    Etymology: conscriptio, Latin.

Wikipedia

  1. Conscription

    Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of near-universal national conscription for young men dates to the French Revolution in the 1790s, where it became the basis of a very large and powerful military. Most European nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1–8 years on active duty and then transfer to the reserve force. Conscription is controversial for a range of reasons, including conscientious objection to military engagements on religious or philosophical grounds; political objection, for example to service for a disliked government or unpopular war; sexism, in that historically men have been subject to the draft in the most cases; and ideological objection, for example, to a perceived violation of individual rights. Those conscripted may evade service, sometimes by leaving the country, and seeking asylum in another country. Some selection systems accommodate these attitudes by providing alternative service outside combat-operations roles or even outside the military, such as Siviilipalvelus (alternative civil service) in Finland, Zivildienst (compulsory community service) in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Several countries conscript male soldiers not only for armed forces, but also for paramilitary agencies, which are dedicated to police-like domestic only service like internal troops, border guards or non-combat rescue duties like civil defence. As of 2023, many states no longer conscript soldiers, relying instead upon professional militaries with volunteers. The ability to rely on such an arrangement, however, presupposes some degree of predictability with regard to both war-fighting requirements and the scope of hostilities. Many states that have abolished conscription still, therefore, reserve the power to resume conscription during wartime or times of crisis. States involved in wars or interstate rivalries are most likely to implement conscription, and democracies are less likely than autocracies to implement conscription. With a few exceptions, such as Singapore and Egypt, former British colonies are less likely to have conscription, as they are influenced by British anti-conscription norms that can be traced back to the English Civil War; the United Kingdom abolished conscription in 1960.

ChatGPT

  1. conscription

    Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of individuals into national service, often the military. It is a practice used by many countries to bolster their armed forces, typically during times of war or significant military conflict. It may also be referred to as "the draft".

Webster Dictionary

  1. Conscriptionnoun

    an enrolling or registering

  2. Conscriptionnoun

    a compulsory enrollment of men for military or naval service; a draft

  3. Conscriptionadjective

    belonging to, or of the nature of, a conspiration

  4. Etymology: [L. conscriptio: cf. F. conscription.]

Wikidata

  1. Conscription

    Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of near-universal national conscription for young men dates to the French Revolution in the 1790s, where it became the basis of a very large and powerful military. Most European nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1–3 years on active duty and then transfer to the reserve force. In China, the State of Qin instituted universal military service following the registration of every household. This allowed huge armies to be levied, and was instrumental in the creation of the Qin Empire that conquered the whole of China in 221BC. Conscription is controversial for a range of reasons, including conscientious objection to military engagements on religious or philosophical grounds; political objection, for example to service for a disliked government or unpopular war; and ideological objection, for example, to a perceived violation of individual rights. Those conscripted may evade service, sometimes by leaving the country. Some selection systems accommodate these attitudes by providing alternative service outside combat-operations roles or even outside the military, such as Zivildienst in Austria and Switzerland. Most post-Soviet countries conscript soldiers not only for Armed Forces but also for paramilitary organizations which are dedicated to police-like domestic only service or non-combat rescue duties - none of which is considered alternative to the military conscription.

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. conscription

    Not only furnishes conscripts for the French army, but also levies a number of men who are compelled to serve afloat.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. conscription

    A system of enrolling men for military service, which is in vogue in France and some other foreign countries. Voluntary enlistments being so very few, the compulsory system of keeping up the armies is deemed indispensable. An account is kept of all the youths who reach the age of 20 in one year, and out of these the number required for the army is drawn by lot.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of conscription in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of conscription in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of conscription in a Sentence

  1. Ben Gumpert:

    Almost every LRA fighter .... by the period 2002-05 had himself or herself been abducted, it is in order to try to strike at that continuing evil that the prosecutor is keen to prosecute crimes arising from conscription.

  2. Kateryna Stepanenko:

    Putin seems to lack confidence that polls and protestations of support for the war will survive a general conscription effort. Recruitment for volunteer battalions or covert mobilization only affects a small percentage of servicemen and their families, such separation allows Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin to control the appearance of the invasion without upsetting most of the Russian male population and their families.

  3. Matthew Smith:

    Investors are extremely unimpressed with their sudden conscription into national service, and you can see that in their share prices.

  4. Gerald R. Ford:

    As I rejected amnesty, so I reject revenge. I ask all Americans who ever asked for goodness and mercy in their lives, who ever sought forgiveness for their trespasses, to join in rehabilitating all the casualties of the tragic conflict of the past. (On Americans who avoided conscription during the Vietnam War, to Veterans of Foreign Wars)

Popularity rank by frequency of use

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Translations for conscription

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"conscription." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/conscription>.

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