compel
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /kəmˈpɛl/
Verb

compel (compels, present participle compelling; past and past participle compelled)

  1. (transitive, archaic, literally) To drive together, round up
  2. (transitive) To overpower; to subdue.
  3. (transitive) To force, constrain or coerce.
    Logic compels the wise, while fools feel compelled by emotions.
    • 1600, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, act 5, scene 1,
      Against my will, / As Pompey was, am I compell’d to set / Upon one battle all our liberties.
    • Wolsey […] compelled the people to pay up the whole subsidy at once.
  4. (transitive) To exact, extort, (make) produce by force.
    • 1613, William Shakespeare; [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:
      Commissions, which compel from each / The sixth part of his substance.
  5. (obsolete) To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.
    • Easy sleep their weary limbs compelled.
    • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Geraint and Enid
      I compel all creatures to my will.
  6. (obsolete) To gather or unite in a crowd or company.
    • in one troop compelled
  7. (obsolete) To call forth; to summon.
    • She had this knight from far compelled.
Related terms Translations
  • Russian: собира́ть
Translations
  • German: zwingen
  • Russian: подчинять
Translations Translations


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