Word.ws English Dictionary

compeller

compeller is the agent noun of compel.

Meaning of 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.
  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)...

See all 9 meanings of compel

Forms of compeller

pluralcompellers

Origin of compeller

From compel + -er.

Questions about compeller

What is compeller the agent noun of?
Compeller is the agent noun of compel.

Words near compeller in the dictionary

  1. compelled speech
  2. compelled testimony
  3. compelledly
  4. compellence
  5. compellent
  6. compeller
  7. compellers
  8. compellest
  9. compelleth
  10. compelling
  11. compelling testimony

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: compeller (page history and authors); compel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “compeller.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/compeller. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.