force
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /fɔːs/
enpr: fôrs
ipa: /foɹs/
ipa: [fo̞ɹs]
note: Indic
ipa: /foː(ɾ)s/
note: spelling pronunciation
ipa: /fɒ(ɾ)s/
note: rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger
enpr: fōrs
ipa: /fo(ː)ɹs/
note: rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger
note: non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger
ipa: /foəs/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)s
Forms: form: forces
Etymology: From Middle English force, fors, forse, from Old French force, from Late Latin fortia, a noun derived from the neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).
Senses: examples: text: the force of an appeal, an argument, or a contract
text: show of force
text: He was, in the full force of the words, a good man.
ref: 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIV, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
text: After his actions were challenged by foreign governments and Parliament initially tried to put a stop to his action, Denman returned home and argued his case with enough force that, by 1848, the Royal Navy was handed active permission and encouragement to raze every last slave factory they could find to the ground, and full authority to stop any ship, of any flag, that was thought to be a slaver, with a guarantee with^([sic]) no censure from the government.
ref: 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 9:45 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2024:
glosses: Ability to influence; strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.
examples: text: Torque is the rotational version of force.
text: Force is the result of fundamental interactions.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
coordinate_terms: moment of force
torque
work
energy
power
glosses: 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).
The generalized abstraction of this concept.
examples: text: Most physicists deem there to be four fundamental forces: the weak force, the strong force, gravitation, and the electromagnetic force.
text: fictitious forces
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
coordinate_terms: moment of force
torque
work
energy
power
glosses: 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).
A particular form or type of force.
examples: text: The Europeans tried, my goodness how they tried. But on the day the US proved too strong and too inspired. They were, dammit, just better. And when Leonard's putt dropped they clearly had the force with them as well.
ref: 1999 September 28, Mike Selvey, “Crenshaw vindicated by a chain reaction”, in The Guardian:
text: The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
ref: 2005, George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, spoken by Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), published 2005:
topics: literature
media
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
publishing
science-fiction
coordinate_terms: moment of force
torque
work
energy
power
glosses: 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).
A particular form or type of force.
A metaphysical and ubiquitous power from the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. See usage note.
raw_tags: with the
examples: text: A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place. Applying a force tangential to the knob is essentially equivalent to applying one perpendicular to a radial line defining the lever.
ref: 2012 March 23, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3:
text: Two forces acting upon the same point on an object will cancel out only if they have equal magnitude and opposite directions.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
coordinate_terms: moment of force
torque
work
energy
power
glosses: 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).
An instance of a physical force.
examples: text: Heavier objects are those that are subject to more gravitational force.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
coordinate_terms: moment of force
torque
work
energy
power
glosses: 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).
Force understood as something of which there can be an amount.
glosses: Anything that is able to make a substantial change in a person or thing.
glosses: Something or anything that has the power to produce a physical effect upon something else, such as causing it to move or change shape.
examples: text: force of nature
glosses: Something that exerts influence.
examples: text: I believe that the main long-term force that guides a society's evolution is not the economy or the leaders, but the culture.
text: Some skeptics have attributed changing temperatures to forces out of our control, such as axial procession.
text: market forces
glosses: Something that exerts influence.
Something that, over time, influences a system with which it interacts (with a connotation of underlyingness, subtlety, or indirectness).
qualifier: when in reference to that which it affects
examples: text: which now they hold by force, and not by right
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
glosses: Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.
topics: law
glosses: Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.
Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
examples: text: air force; police force
text: Force Z
text: Is Lucius general of the forces?
ref: 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
text: "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.[…]."
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: For Lothian and Borders Police, the early-morning raid had come at the end one of biggest investigations carried out by the force, which had originally presented a dossier of evidence on the murder of Jodi Jones to the Edinburgh procurator-fiscal, William Gallagher, on 25 November last year.
ref: 2004 April 15, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, in The Scotsman:
glosses: A group organized for the goal of attacking, controling, or constraining, especially one with a set command structure (in particular, a military or police group).
glosses: A group organized for the goal of attacking, controling, or constraining, especially one with a set command structure (in particular, a military or police group).
Any large, organized group involved in a military engagement.
examples: text: After only a week, Japanese forces had captured Singapore from the British.
text: reinforcements grew the American force in the area to 9,000
text: Roman forces were
glosses: A group organized for the goal of attacking, controling, or constraining, especially one with a set command structure (in particular, a military or police group).
Military personnel, collectively, including any vehicles, ships, or aircraft. More broadly, the military or police altogether.
examples: text: Q. All the time that he was on the force?
A. I cannot say that; but there were men on with me when I was on the force who were very good Republicans.
Q. During all this time you have been on the police force?
ref: 1880, [U.S.] House documents, page 64:
text: Some of those that work forces / Are the same that burn crosses
ref: 1992, Rage Against the Machine (band), Killing in the Name
text: Niall was on the force, too, a detective in major crimes.
ref: 2012 February 1, Janice Kay Johnson, Between Love and Duty, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 77:
glosses: A group organized for the goal of attacking, controling, or constraining, especially one with a set command structure (in particular, a military or police group).
Military personnel, collectively, including any vehicles, ships, or aircraft. More broadly, the military or police altogether.
Synonym of police force.
synonyms: word: police force
examples: text: The law will come into force in January.
text: come into force
topics: law
glosses: The state of having legal weight, of being legally valid,.
glosses: 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.
examples: text: When the aspectual force of the verbal categories weakens, the 'terminative', punctual or determinative value of the prefix gains in importance,...
ref: 1962, J Gonda, The aspectual function of the R̥gvedic present and aorist, S̓-Gravenhage, Mouton, page 43:
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
pragmatics
sciences
semantics
glosses: Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect a given meaning.
examples: text: force of mortality
topics: business
finance
financial
mathematics
sciences
qualifier: actuarial science
glosses: The annualized instantaneous rate of change at a particular timepoint.
Hyponyms: air force
armed forces
breakout force
brute force
centrifugal force
centripetal force
conservative force
Coriolis force
Coulomb force
fictitious force
fifth force
fundamental force
gale force
g-force
land force
London dispersion force
market force
police force
restoring force
spent force
task force
tractive force
wind force
workforce
Derived terms: accelerating force
Ampère's force law
antiforce
atomic force microscope
atomic force microscopy
behavioral force
biteforce
blue force
brakeforce
brute-force
by force of
Casimir force
color force
colour force
come into force
coming into force
constructive force
counterforce
cyberforce
downforce
driving force
electromagnetic force
electromotive force
electrostatic force
field of force
force diagram
force feed
forcefeed
force-feed
force-field
force field
force in
force justified
forceless
forcely
force majeure
forcement
force multiplier
forceness
force of habit
force of nature
force of will
force-out
forceout
force pair
forceplate
force play
force pump
force-put
force-ripe
forceshield
force to be reckoned with
forcewide
forcite
four-force
general of the air force
g force
gravitational force
ground mobile force
in force
in full force
interforce
intermolecular force
job force
jobforce
kilogram-force
labor force
labour force
life-force
life force
line of force
Lorentz force
magnetomotive force
masticatory force
may the force be with you
may the Force be with you
microforce
moment of force
net force
normal force
nuclear force
overforce
pinch force
Planck force
pound-force
pressure gradient force
pseudo force
pseudo-force
quadriforce
reconnaissance in force
red force
reduction in force
sales force
salesforce
semiforce
space force
spaceforce
strike force
strikeforce
strong force
strong nuclear force
superforce
support force
task-force
tidal force
triforce
unforce
United States Space Force
upforce
van der Waals force
vital force
weak force
weak nuclear force
will-force
workforce
work force
Related terms: sense: Imperial unit
word: pound
sense: Imperial unit
word: poundal
sense: metric unit
word: newton