perforce
UK/pəˈfɔːs//pɚˈfɔɹs/
perforce adverb: by constraint of circumstances; of necessity; as a matter of course.
Adverb
perforce (not comparable)
- By constraint of circumstances; of necessity; as a matter of course.
- Mr. Wickham's happiness and her own were perforce delayed a little longer, and Mr. Collins's proposal accepted with as good a grace as she could..1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 17, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC
- "Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these,"
The Master said, panting as one fatigued,
"Must we perforce depart from so much evil."1882, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Inferno, canto 34
- Synonyms:
- perforcely, perforcedly, necessarily, obligatorily, obligately, mandatorily, unavoidably, inevitably, ineluctably, inescapably
- By force.
- If ſhe denie, Lord Hastings goe with him,
And from her iealous Armes pluck him perforce.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and... - For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault; all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which, perforce, I know
Thou must restore.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
- If ſhe denie, Lord Hastings goe with him,
Verb
perforce (third-person singular simple present perforces, present participle perforcing, simple past and past participle perforced)
perforce meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
perforce in Tamil
- கட்டாயத் தேவை, துறையிடுதல், பொத்தலிடுதல், தேவையினால்
perforce in Urdu
- خوامخواہ
perforce in Malayalam
- inevitably, necessarily, of necessity
- ആവശ്യം, ബലാൽക്കാരമായി, നിർബ്ബന്ധമായി, ആവശ്യം പ്രമാണിച്ച്, അനിവാര്യമായി, അവശ്യമായി
perforce in Kannada
- ಕಡ್ಡಾಯವಾಗಿ
Examples of perforce in a sentence
- So, bevelling around by Mullett's and the Signal House which they shortly reached, they proceeded perforce in the direction of Amiens street railway terminus1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:
- Accordingly work perforce had to be begun.1939 July, John D. Hewitt, “Some Notable British Main Lines: 1. Settle and Carlisle, L.M.S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 35:
- Adult immigrants must perforce learn some English, and their children are likely to become English monolinguals.2006, Alejandro Portes, Rubén G. Rumbaut, Immigrant America: A Portrait, 3rd edition, page 239:
- The relevant considerations to be weighed by a local authority in reaching decisions on children in its care must perforce include the views and interests of the natural parents.2013 August 1, European Court of Human Rights, A.K. and L. v. Croatia, number 37956/11, marginal 62–63:
Synonyms of perforce
Forms of perforce
| third-person singular present | perforces |
|---|---|
| present participle | perforcing |
| past participle | perforced |
| past | perforced |
Origin of perforce
From Middle English par force, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French par force (“by force”).
Words that rhyme with perforce
Questions about perforce
- What does perforce mean?
- Perforce means by constraint of circumstances; of necessity; as a matter of course.
- What is perforce in Tamil?
- Perforce in Tamil is கட்டாயத் தேவை, துறையிடுதல், பொத்தலிடுதல். See Perforce meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use perforce in a sentence?
- So, bevelling around by Mullett's and the Signal House which they shortly reached, they proceeded perforce in the direction of Amiens street railway terminus
- What part of speech is perforce?
- Perforce can be an adverb or a verb.
- How do you pronounce perforce?
- Perforce is pronounced /pəˈfɔːs/ (UK).
Words near perforce in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: perforce (page history and authors); perforce (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perforce (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perforce (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); perforce (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-perforce.ogg.
Cite this entry: “perforce.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/perforce. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.