COMPEL

compel, oblige, obligate

(verb) force somebody to do something; “We compel all students to fill out this form”

compel

(verb) necessitate or exact; “the water shortage compels conservation”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

compel (third-person singular simple present compels, present participle compelling, simple past and past participle compelled)

(transitive, archaic, literally) To drive together, round up

(transitive) To overpower; to subdue.

(transitive) To force, constrain or coerce.

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

(obsolete) To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.

(obsolete) To gather or unite in a crowd or company.

(obsolete) To call forth; to summon.

Source: Wiktionary


Com*pel", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Compelled; p. pr. & vb. n Compelling.] Etym: [L. compellere, compilstum, to drive together, to compel, urge; com- + pellere to drive: cf. OF. compellir. See Pulse.]

1. To drive or urge with force, or irresistibly; to force; to constrain; to oblige; to necessitate, either by physical or moral force. Wolsey . . . compelled the people to pay up the whole subsidy at once. Hallam. And they compel one Simon . . . to bear his cross. Mark xv. 21.

2. To take by force or violence; to seize; to exact; to extort. [R.] Commissions, which compel from each The sixth part of his substance. Shak.

3. To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate. Easy sleep their weary limbs compelled. Dryden. I compel all creatures to my will. Tennyson.

4. To gather or unite in a crowd or company. [A Latinism] "In one troop compelled." Dryden.

5. To call forth; to summon. [Obs.] Chapman. She had this knight from far compelled. Spenser.

Syn.

– To force; constrain; oblige; necessitate; coerce. See Coerce.

Com*pel", v. i.

Definition: To make one yield or submit. "If she can not entreat, I can not compel." Shak.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

5 May 2025

UNEXPLOITED

(adjective) not developed, improved, exploited or used; “vast unexploited (or undeveloped) natural resources”; “taxes on undeveloped lots are low”


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Coffee Trivia

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

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