compel

Verb

compel (third-person singular simple present compels, present participle compelling, simple past and past participle compelled)

1. (archaic, literally, transitive) To drive together, round up.
   • The shepherds compelled the stray sheep into the fold as night began to fall.
2. (transitive) To overpower; to subdue.
   • She had one of those perfect faces, which irresistibly compel the soul of a man.1917, Upton Sinclair, chapter 16, in King Coal
3. (transitive) To force, constrain, or coerce.
   • Logic compels the wise, while fools feel compelled by emotions.
   • Congratulations, your courage compels respect.
4. (transitive) To forcefully or powerfully motivate (a course of action).
   • As the novel progresses, it picks up a propulsive energy, the kind that compels you to keep reading straight through to the end.November 1, 2022, J. Courtney Sullivan, “In Northern Ireland During the Troubles, a Secret Romance”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms:

   necessitate

5. (transitive) To have a strong, irresistible force (on someone or something).
6. (transitive) To exact, extort, (make) produce by force.
   • Commissions, which compel from each / The sixth part of his substance.1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio)...
   • The Queen has nothing but the power to execute the laws, to adjust grievances and to compel order.1912, L. Frank Baum, chapter 14, in Sky Island
7. (obsolete) To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.
   • Easy sleep their weary limbs compell'd.1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
   • And I will fetch you forage from all fields, / For I compel all creatures to my will.1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 79
8. (obsolete) To gather or unite in a crowd or company.
   • in one troop compell'd1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
9. (obsolete) To call forth; to summon.
   • She had this knight from far compeld.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 5
   • the pow'rs that I compel / Shall throw thee hence, and make thy head run ope the gates of hel[1611?], Homer, “Book V”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new...