forcible
forcible adjective: done by force, forced.
Adjective
forcible (comparative more forcible, superlative most forcible)
- Done by force, forced.
- I fled; but he pursued (though more, it seems, / Inflamed with lust than rage), and, swifter far, / Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed, / And, in embraces forcible and foul / Engendering with me, of that rape begot / These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry / Surround me, as thou saw'st—1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- The forcible administration of poison is by no means a new thing in criminal annals.1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part II (The Country of the Saints), chapter VII (The Conclusion), page 93
- Having (physical) force, forceful.
- […] he drew her to him, laid a forcible detaining arm about her waist, and misapprehended her frantic revolt for an exhibition of maidenly reluctance.1911 March, Jack London, chapter XXVI, in Adventure, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC
- Having a powerful effect; forceful, telling, strong, convincing, effective.
- But that which hath been once most sufficient, may wax otherwise by alteration of time and place; that punishment which hath been sometimes forcible to bridle sin, may grow afterwards too weak and feebled.[1594], Richard Hooker, chapter III, in J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
- Thou hast frighted the word out of his right sense, so forcible is thy wit.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Able to be forced.
- […] it seems that an entry is not forcible by the bare drawing up a latch, or pulling back the bolt of a door, there being no appearance therein of its being done by strong hand, or multitude of people; […]1831, Richard Burn, Joseph Chitty, Thomas Chitty, The Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer, volume 1, page 793
- But an entry may be forcible, not only in respect of a violence actually done to the person of a man, but also in respect of any other kind of violence in the manner of the entry, as by breaking open the doors of a house […]1835, Sir Thomas Edlyne Tomlins, Thomas Colpitts Granger, The Law-dictionary
forcible meaning in Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
forcible in Urdu
- زوردار
forcible in Malayalam
- ബലമുള്ള, പ്രബലമായ, ശക്തിയുള്ള, സാഹസികമായ
forcible in Kannada
- ಬಲಾತ್ಕಾರದಿಂದ, ಬಲಪ್ರಯೋಗದಿಂದ, ಬಲವಂತದಿಂದ, ಪರಿಣಾಮಕಾರಿಯಾದ, ಪ್ರಭಾವಯುತವಾದ
Examples of forcible in a sentence
- Since the forcible ejection of pugilist Siki from the New York Bar in Paris, discussion of Negro rights has become serious.1923 March 9, “Jim Crow Tendency”, in Time:
- How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 6:25:
- [...] indeed, it is seldom that a week passes but that we receive forcible reminders of the lynx-eyed scrutiny to which each successive issue is subjected by the experts.1944 May and June, “In the Critics' Den”, in Railway Magazine, page 132:
Forms of forcible
| comparative | more forcible |
|---|---|
| superlative | most forcible |
Origin of forcible
From Middle English forcible, forsable, from Old French forcible, from forcier (“to conquer by force”), equivalent to force + -ible.
Words formed from forcible
Phrases with forcible
Questions about forcible
- What does forcible mean?
- Forcible means done by force, forced.
- What is forcible in Urdu?
- Forcible in Urdu is زوردار. See Forcible meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use forcible in a sentence?
- Since the forcible ejection of pugilist Siki from the New York Bar in Paris, discussion of Negro rights has become serious.
- What part of speech is forcible?
- Forcible is an adjective.
Words near forcible in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: forcible (page history and authors); forcible (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); forcible (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); forcible (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-forcible.wav.
Cite this entry: “forcible.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/forcible. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.