What is another word for compel?
Synonyms for compel
kəmˈpɛlcom·pel
This thesaurus page includes all potential synonyms, words with the same meaning and similar terms for the word compel.
English Synonyms and Antonyms
compel
To compel one to an act is to secure its performance by the use of irresistible physical or moral force. Force implies primarily an actual physical process, absolutely subduing all resistance. Coerce implies the actual or potential use of so much force as may be necessary to secure the surrender of the will; the American secessionists contended that the Federal government had no right to coerce a State. Constrain implies the yielding of judgment and will, and in some cases of inclination or affection, to an overmastering power; as, "the love of Christ constraineth us," 2 Cor. v, 14. Compare DRIVE; INFLUENCE.
See synonyms for HINDER.
Synonyms:
coerce, constrain, drive, force, make, necessitate, obligePreposition:
The soldiers were compelled to desertion: preferably with the infinitive, compelled to desert.
Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms
Princeton's WordNet
Matched Categories
Dictionary of English Synonymes
Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words
Usage in printed sourcesFrom:
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Words popularity by usage frequency
ranking | word | |
---|---|---|
#132 | make | |
#737 | drive | |
#1022 | force | |
#1275 | hold | |
#1539 | require | |
#8016 | accommodate | |
#8275 | bind | |
#9781 | impose | |
#25684 | compel | |
#31363 | constrain | |
#39203 | necessitate | |
#44733 | oblige | |
#48826 | coerce | |
#53932 | obligate |
How to use compel in a sentence?
Most of us can not compel our local election jurisdictions to update their equipment.
When state and government have gone, laws must go. People who speak of “laws” in a communistic society, think perhaps only of those general rules of sensible and noble conduct which every good man finds it easy to observe. But in that case they use a wrong word. A law is a rule connected with an apparatus to compel obedience. Behind the law stand the court, the sheriff, the police, the hangman, etc., and who wants them? None, we guess.
The United States strongly objects to China's attempts to compel private firms to use specific language of a political nature in their publicly available content, we call on China to stop threatening and coercing American carriers and citizens.
The words of the Constitution are so unrestricted by their intrinsic meaning or by their history or by tradition or by prior decisions that they leave the individual Justice free, if indeed they do not compel him, to gather meaning not from reading the Constitution but from reading life.
Today, I stood up for Upstate NY families who tragically lost 20 people in the tragic Schoharie County limo crash that could have been avoided had the FBI not turned a blind eye to the criminal actions of the driver – an FBI informant – and his company's long history of negligence. It is part of Congress' job to conduct proper oversight of the FBI's activities, and I will not hesitate to compel all FBI documents regarding the tragic Schoharie County limo crash with a Congressional subpoena next year in a Republican Majority.
Translations for compel
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- تجبرArabic
- подчинявам, насилвам, принуждавам, заставям, събирамBulgarian
- nutitCzech
- zwingen, nötigenGerman
- αναγκάζωGreek
- devigiEsperanto
- forzar, obligar, compelerSpanish
- pakottaa, [[periä]] [[väkisin]], ajaaFinnish
- obligerFrench
- ենթարկել, ստիպել, հարկադրել, պարտադրելArmenian
- לאלץHebrew
- 강요하다Korean
- qui nolentes cogeretLatin
- bedwingen, afdwingen, dwingen, bijeendrijven, samendrijvenDutch
- tvingeNorwegian
- forçarPortuguese
- обязывать, вынудить, принудить, обязать, принуждать, заставить, заставлять, подчинять, вынуждать, собиратьRussian
- tvingaSwedish
- บังคับThai
- צווינגעןYiddish
- 迫使Chinese
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Translation
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"compel." Synonyms.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 17 Feb. 2025. <https://www.synonyms.com/synonym/compel>.
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