impel

Verb

impel (third-person singular simple present impels, present participle impelling, simple past and past participle impelled)

1. (transitive) To urge a person; to press on; to incite to action or motion via intrinsic motivation.
   • She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types...1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
   • I feel impelled to reply to Roger Henry's letter about my article on being denied an apartment. I truly resent any insinuation that I "slunk back into that rotting old closet."1976 August 28, Michael Shernoff, “No 'Rotting Closet'”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 9, page 5

   Synonyms:

   actuate, motivate, abet, goose, fuel, light a fire under, send, sting, bring about, cheer

   Antonyms:

   propel

2. (transitive) To drive forward; to propel an object, to provide an impetus for motion or action.
   • The wind impelled the kayaks toward the shore.

   Synonyms:

   drive, press, propel, push, shove, thrutch

   Antonyms:

   restrain, retard, behedge, blunt, crimp, foreclose, delay, difficult, diminish, forestay