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)
- To drive together, round up.
- The shepherds compelled the stray sheep into the fold as night began to fall.
- 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
- To force, constrain, or coerce.
- Logic compels the wise, while fools feel compelled by emotions.
- 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
- To have a strong, irresistible force (on someone or something).
- 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)...
Forms of compeller
| plural | compellers |
|---|
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
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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “compeller.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/compeller. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
