ensue

ensue

English

Etymology

From Old French ensu- [1], stem of some conjugated forms of ensivre (“follow close upon, come afterward”) (French ensuivre), from Latin īnsequere, from īnsequi (“to pursue, follow, follow after; come next”), from in- (“upon”) (see in-) + sequi (“follow”) (see sequel).

Pronunciation

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɛnˈsjʉː/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈsjuː/, IPA^(key): /ɪnˈʃuː/, IPA^(key): /ɛnˈsjuː/, IPA^(key): /ɛnˈʃuː/

  • Audio (UK)

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈsuː/
• Rhymes: -uː

Verb

ensue (third-person singular simple present ensues, present participle ensuing, simple past and past participle ensued)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To follow (a leader, inclination etc.). [15th–17th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii:

     to ripenesse of mans state they grew: / Then shewing forth signes of their fathers blood, / They loued armes, and knighthood did ensew, / Seeking aduentures [...].

   • 1606, Justine, G. W. (translator), The Historie of Justine

     To ensue his example in doynge the like mischiefe.

2. (obsolete, transitive) To follow (in time), to be subsequent to. [15th–17th c.]
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, III.11:

     Oh how many changes are like to ensue this reformation!

3. (intransitive) To occur afterwards, as a result or effect. [from 16th c.]

   Give three freshmen six bottles of wine, and hilarity will ensue.

   • 1593, anonymous, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I:

     After ſo bad a beginning, whats like to inſue?

   • 1960 December, “Talking of Trains: The riding of B.R. coaches”, in Trains Illustrated, page 705:

     Nor, having married coach and bogie design successfully, does it follow that good riding will ensue, whatever the track carrying it—as the performance of B.R. standard coaches on flat-bottom, concrete-sleepered track bears witness.

Synonyms

• (to follow): carry out, follow, pursue
• (to be subsequent to): come after, follow; see also Thesaurus:succeed
• (to occur afterwards): arise, follow

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sekʷ-‎ (3 c, 0 e)

Translations

to occur as consequence

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: последвам (bg) (posledvam) Chinese: Mandarin: 接踵而來／接踵而来 (zh) (jiēzhǒngérlái) Czech: následovat (cs) Danish: følge Dutch: erop volgen, daarop volgen Esperanto: rezulti (eo), sekvi Finnish: seurata (fi), olla seurauksena French: résulter (fr), découler (fr) Georgian: გაყოლა (gaq̇ola) German: folgen (de), ansetzen (de), erfolgen (de), nachfolgen (de), resultieren (de), sich ergeben, sich einstellen, eintreten (de), ansetzen (de) Greek: επακολουθώ (el) (epakolouthó) Hungarian: következik (hu), származik (hu), ered (hu) Italian: seguire (it), conseguire (it) Japanese: 続く (ja) (tsuzuku) Norwegian: Bokmål: etterfølge Polish: wynikać (pl), następować (pl) Portuguese: resultar (pt), seguir-se Russian: сле́довать (ru) (slédovatʹ) Serbo-Croatian: slijediti (sh) Spanish: seguirse (es), resultar (es) Swedish: bli följden Turkish: ardından gelmek, doğmak (tr), izlemek (tr), sonradan gelmek, sonucu olmak, takip etmek (tr) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “ensue”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• seuen, unsee