compel

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To drive together, round up.

   • The shepherds compelled the stray sheep into the fold as night began to fall.
2. 2

   To overpower

   To overpower; to subdue.

   • She had one of those perfect faces, which irresistibly compel the soul of a man.
3. 3

   To force, constrain, or coerce.

   • Logic compels the wise, while fools feel compelled by emotions.
   • Congratulations, your courage compels respect.
   • Against my will, / As Pompey was, am I compell’d to set / Upon one battle all our liberties.
4. ›+ 6 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To forcefully or powerfully motivate (a course of action).

      • As the novel progresses, it picks up a propulsive energy, the kind that compels you to keep reading straight through to the end.
   2. 5

      To have a strong, irresistible force (on someone or something).

   3. 6

      To exact, extort, (make) produce by force.

      • Commissions, which compel from each / The sixth part of his substance.
      • The Queen has nothing but the power to execute the laws, to adjust grievances and to compel order.
   4. 7

      To force to yield

      To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.

      • Easy sleep their weary limbs compell'd.
      • And I will fetch you forage from all fields, / For I compel all creatures to my will.
   5. 8

      To gather or unite in a crowd or company.

      • in one troop compell'd
   6. 9

      To call forth

      To call forth; to summon.

      • She had this knight from far compeld.
      • the pow'rs that I compel / Shall throw thee hence, and make thy head run ope the gates of hel

The neighborhood

• neighborcompulsion