compel
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
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.
Inflected forms:
form: compels
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: compelling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: compelled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: compelled
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: To drive together, round up.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
literally
transitive
examples: The shepherds compelled the stray sheep into the fold as night began to fall.
gloss: To overpower; to subdue.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: She had one of those perfect faces, which irresistibly compel the soul of a man.
gloss: To force, constrain, or coerce.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Logic compels the wise, while fools feel compelled by emotions.
Congratulations, your courage compels respect.
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.
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.
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.
gloss: To forcefully or powerfully motivate (a course of action).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: As the novel progresses, it picks up a propulsive energy, the kind that compels you to keep reading straight through to the end.
gloss: To have a strong, irresistible force (on someone or something).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To exact, extort, (make) produce by force.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Commissions, which compel from each / The sixth part of his substance.
The Queen has nothing but the power to execute the laws, to adjust grievances and to compel order.
gloss: To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
examples: Easy sleep their weary limbs compell'd.
And I will fetch you forage from all fields, / For I compel all creatures to my will.
gloss: To gather or unite in a crowd or company.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
examples: in one troop compell'd
gloss: To call forth; to summon.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
examples: She had this knight from far compeld.
the pow'rs that I compel / Shall throw thee hence, and make thy head run ope the gates of hel
Related words: compulsion
Derived words: compellable
compellation
compelled
compellence
compeller
compelling
compel testimony
recompel
Translations:
lang: Armenian
word: ենթարկել
roman: entʻarkel
lang: Bulgarian
word: подчиня́вам
roman: podčinjávam
lang: Czech
word: podrobit
lang: Czech
word: podrobovat
lang: Dutch
word: bedwingen
lang: Finnish
word: alistaa
lang: Galician
word: domear
lang: German
word: bezwingen
lang: German
word: unterwerfen
lang: Russian
word: подчиня́ть
roman: podčinjátʹ