compel
verb/kəmˈpɛl/
Etymology From Middle English compellen, borrowed from Middle French compellir, from Latin compellere, itself from com- (“together”) + pellere (“to drive”). Displaced native Old English nīedan.
9 senses
- 1To drive together, round up.
- 2To overpower; to subdue.
- 3To force, constrain, or coerce.
- 4To forcefully or powerfully motivate (a course of action).
- 5To have a strong, irresistible force (on someone or something).
- 6To exact, extort, (make) produce by force.
- 7To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.
- 8To gather or unite in a crowd or company.
- 9To call forth; to summon.
- The shepherds compelled the stray sheep into the fold as night began to fall.
2
To overpower; to subdue.
- She had one of those perfect faces, which irresistibly compel the soul of a man.1917, Upton Sinclair, chapter 16, in King Coal:
3
To force, constrain, or coerce.
- Logic compels the wise, while fools feel compelled by emotions.
- Congratulations, your courage compels respect.
4 more examples
- Against my will, / As Pompey was, am I compell’d to set / Upon one battle all our liberties.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
- Wolsey […] compelled the people to pay up the whole subsidy at once.1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:
- To me it seems that extensive investment in relatively low-powered units may have the same ultimate result of motive power shortage as that which afflicts the London Midland Region today, and which has compelled the re-engining of some of the earlier multiple-unit diesel train sets.1958 June 23, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 412:
- Sellafield compels this kind of gaze into the abyss of deep time because it is a place where multiple time spans – some fleeting, some cosmic – drift in and out of view.December 15, 2022, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian:
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.November 1, 2022, J. Courtney Sullivan, “In Northern Ireland During the Troubles, a Secret Romance”, in The New York Times:
5
To have a strong, irresistible force (on someone or something).
6
To exact, extort, (make) produce by force.
- Commissions, which compel from each / The sixth part of his substance.1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- The Queen has nothing but the power to execute the laws, to adjust grievances and to compel order.1912, L. Frank Baum, chapter 14, in Sky Island:
7
Obsolete To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.
- Easy sleep their weary limbs compell'd.1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- And I will fetch you forage from all fields, / For I compel all creatures to my will.1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 79:
8
Obsolete To gather or unite in a crowd or company.
- in one troop compell'd1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
9
Obsolete To call forth; to summon.
- She had this knight from far compeld.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 5:
- the pow'rs that I compel / Shall throw thee hence, and make thy head run ope the gates of hel[1611?], Homer, “Book V”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume I, London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- compellable, compellation, compelled, compellence, compeller, compelling, compel testimony, recompel
- Related terms
- compulsion