English
force
see also: Force
Pronunciation
  • (America) enPR: fôrs, IPA: /fɔɹs/
  • (RP) IPA: /fɔːs/
  • (rhotic, horse-hoarse) enPR: fōrs, IPA: /fo(ː)ɹs/
  • (nonrhotic, horse-hoarse) IPA: /foəs/
Noun

force

  1. Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.
    the force of an appeal, an argument, or a contract
    • 18, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 14, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify ), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323 ↗:
  2. Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.
    • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part II
      which now they hold by force, and not by right
  3. (countable) Anything that is able to make a substantial change in a person or thing.
  4. (countable, physics) A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body and which has a direction and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
  5. Something or anything that has the power to produce a physical effect upon something else, such as causing it to move or change shape.
  6. (countable) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
    police force
    • 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline
      Is Lucius general of the forces?
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314 ↗, page 0124 ↗:
      "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there. […]."
  7. (uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.
    show of force
  8. (countable) A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person.
  9. (legal) Legal validity.
    The law will come into force in January.
  10. (legal) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
  11. (linguistics, semantics, pragmatics) Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect#Verb|effect a given meaning.
  12. (humorous or science fiction, with the, often, capitalized)topics en A metaphysical and ubiquitous power from the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. See usage note. [1977]
  13. Synonym of police force#English|police force (“typically with preceding "the"”)
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Portuguese: validade
  • Russian: власть
Translations
  • Russian: си́ла
Translations Verb

force (forces, present participle forcing; past and past participle forced)

  1. (transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape. [from 14thc.]
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:7.5?rgn=div2;view=fulltext chapter v], in Le Morte Darthur, book V:
      For yf ye were suche fyfty as ye be / ye were not able to make resystence ageynst this deuyl / here lyeth a duchesse deede the whiche was the fayrest of alle the world wyf to syre Howel / duc of Bretayne / he hath murthred her in forcynge her / and has slytte her vnto the nauyl
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 1, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821 ↗:
      a young woman not farre from mee had headlong cast her selfe out of a high window, with intent to kill herselfe, only to avoid the ravishment of a rascally-base souldier that lay in her house, who offered to force her […].
  2. (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To exert oneself, to do one's utmost. [from 14thc.]
    • a. 1472, Thomas Malory, “Capitulum xxi”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book XVIII, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, OCLC 71490786 ↗; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: Published by David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034 ↗:
      And I pray you for my sake to force yourselff there, that men may speke you worshyp.
  3. (transitive) To compel (someone or something) to do something. [from 15thc.]
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314 ↗, page 0105 ↗:
      Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
    • 2011, Tim Webb & Fiona Harvey, The Guardian, 23 March:
      Housebuilders had warned that the higher costs involved would have forced them to build fewer homes and priced many homebuyers out of the market.
  4. (transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of. [from 16thc.]
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], book I, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821 ↗:
      Shall wee force the general law of nature, which in all living creatures under heaven is seene to tremble at paine?
  5. (transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb). [from 16thc.]
    • It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay / That scarce the victor forced the steel away.
    • c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, 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 III, scene iii]:
      to force the tyrant from his seat by war
    • Ethelbert ordered that none should be forced into religion.
    • 2007, The Guardian, 4 November:
      In a groundbreaking move, the Pentagon is compensating servicemen seriously hurt when an American tank convoy forced them off the road.
  6. (transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force. [from 16thc.]
    The comedian's jokes weren't funny, but I forced a laugh now and then.
    • 2009, "All things to Althingi", The Economist, 23 July:
      The second problem is the economy, the shocking state of which has forced the decision to apply to the EU.
  7. (transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.). [from 17thc.]
    To force a lock.
  8. To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.
  9. (transitive, baseball) To create an out by touching a base in advance of a runner who has no base to return to while in possession of a ball which has already touched the ground.
    Jones forced the runner at second by stepping on the bag.
  10. (whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold.
  11. (archaic) To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.
    • What can the church force more?
  12. (archaic) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
    • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, 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 V, scene v], lines 5–7, page 150 ↗, column 1:
      Were they not forc’d with thoſe that ſhould be ours, / We might haue met them darefull, beard to beard, / And beate them backward home.
  13. (obsolete) To allow the force of; to value; to care for.
    • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lvcrece (First Quarto), London: Printed by Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], OCLC 236076664 ↗:
      For me, I force not argument a straw.
Translations Translations Noun

force (plural forces)

  1. (countable, Northern England) A waterfall or cascade.
    • to see the falls or force of the river Kent
Verb

force (forces, present participle forcing; past and past participle forced)

  1. To stuff; to lard; to farce.
    • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, 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 V, scene i]:
      Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit.
Force
Proper noun
  1. (Northern England) Falls. used in place names.


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