Ask vs. Enquire

To request (information, or an answer to a question).

Example: ‘I asked her age.’;

To put forward (a question) to be answered.

Example: ‘to ask a question’;

To interrogate or enquire of (a person).

Example: ‘I'm going to ask this lady for directions.’;

To request or petition; usually with for.

Example: ‘to ask for a second helping at dinner’; ‘to ask for help with homework’;

To request permission to do something.

Example: ‘She asked to see the doctor.’; ‘Did you ask to use the car?’;

To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity.

Example: ‘What price are you asking for the house?’;

To invite.

Example: ‘Don't ask them to the wedding.’;

To publish in church for marriage; said of both the banns and the persons.

(figuratively) To take (a person's situation) as an example.

An act or instance of asking.

Something asked or asked for; a request.

An asking price.

An eft; newt.

A lizard.

To request; to seek to obtain by words; to petition; to solicit; - often with of, in the sense of from, before the person addressed.

Example: ‘Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God.’; ‘If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’;

To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity; as, what price do you ask?

Example: ‘Ask me never so much dowry.’; ‘To whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.’; ‘An exigence of state asks a much longer time to conduct a design to maturity.’;

To interrogate or inquire of or concerning; to put a question to or about; to question.

Example: ‘He is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.’; ‘He asked the way to Chester.’;

To invite; as, to ask one to an entertainment.

To publish in church for marriage; - said of both the banns and the persons.

To request or petition; - usually followed by for; as, to ask for bread.

Example: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you.’;

To make inquiry, or seek by request; - sometimes followed by after.

Example: ‘Wherefore . . . dost ask after my name?’;

A water newt.

inquire about;

Example: ‘I asked about their special today’; ‘He had to ask directions several times’;

make a request or demand for something to somebody;

Example: ‘She asked him for a loan’;

direct or put; seek an answer to;

Example: ‘ask a question’;

consider obligatory; request and expect;

Example: ‘We require our secretary to be on time’; ‘Aren't we asking too much of these children?’; ‘I expect my students to arrive in time for their lessons’;

require or ask for as a price or condition;

Example: ‘He is asking $200 for the table’; ‘The kidnapers are asking a million dollars in return for the release of their hostage’;

address a question to and expect an answer from;

Example: ‘Ask your teacher about trigonometry’; ‘The children asked me about their dead grandmother’;

require as useful, just, or proper;

Example: ‘It takes nerve to do what she did’; ‘success usually requires hard work’; ‘This job asks a lot of patience and skill’; ‘This position demands a lot of personal sacrifice’; ‘This dinner calls for a spectacular dessert’; ‘This intervention does not postulates a patient's consent’;

(intransitive) To make an enquiry.

Example: ‘He enquired about the availability of rental bicycles in the town.’;

To ask about (something).

See Inquire.

inquire about;

Example: ‘I asked about their special today’; ‘He had to ask directions several times’;

conduct an inquiry or investigation of;

Example: ‘The district attorney's office investigated reports of possible irregularities’; ‘inquire into the disappearance of the rich old lady’;

have a wish or desire to know something;

Example: ‘He wondered who had built this beautiful church’;

ask for information from someone

Example: ‘I enquired where he lived’; ‘‘How well do you know Berlin?’ he enquired of Hencke’; ‘he enquired about cottages for sale’;

ask about the health and well-being of (someone)

Example: ‘Angus enquired after her parents’;

ask to see or speak to (someone)

Example: ‘that was Mr Paul enquiring for you—I told him he couldn't come in’;

investigate; look into

Example: ‘the task of political sociology is to enquire into the causes of political events’;