to force
- verb
- /fɔrs/
- If you incur debts you cannot repay, you will be forced to sell your inheritance.
- force people to
- forced to pay
- forced the government
But what you can do is force yourself to focus on you.
- But what you can do is force yourself to focus on you.
- The laws she didn't change forced me into it.
- The silent treatment is done to force contact out of someone.
- But I'm trying to just force that solution on people.
- It forces it forces the fun right out of me.
- We have to force this to happen and we should.
- And then we were forced, forced to climb together.
- And the surviving twin, she forces him to become the twin she loves.
Examples
-
You cannot force me to tell you something I don't know.
-
The Palestinian leadership has taken its own initiative to force a deadline for statehood without negotiations.
Academic text (2011) -
But what you can do is force yourself to focus on you.
-
So find ways to force yourself to make stuff.
-
So you have children and it forces you to find your why?
-
Or I'll be forced to keep writing letters.
-
Immigrant students are often affected by immigration laws that force them or their family members into hiding.
Academic text (2013) -
The act of vocalizing before playing forces the performer to internalize the music.
Academic text (2013) -
Amid the wave of popular protests sweeping the region, it was forced to reassess its political priorities.
Academic text (2011) -
You need to force yourself to finish the project on time, even if it's challenging.
Synonyms
To force someone to do something
To cause someone to want to do something strongly
To urge someone to do something or try harder
Ask someone firmly and repeatedly to do something
Force someone to accept something they do not want
Force someone to do something or make them feel they must
To try to make someone do something
Force someone to do something by threats
To make someone do something because the law or rules say so
To force someone to accept something or to ask too much of them
Persuade someone to do something
To force something on someone, often against their will
To push into a place using physical strength or influence
To persuade someone to do something after repeated effort
To force someone to do something by threats or violence
To make someone feel they must do something, often because of pressure or need
To use influence to persuade someone to do something
Get someone to agree or do something by pressuring them
Persuade someone to do what you want
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
Make someone accept ideas or opinions they do not want by pressuring them
- Informal
A wish of good luck people say to encourage someone, often playfully
Phrasal Verbs
Make people or things move backward by using strength and stop feelings by holding them back
- Specialized
To make an aircraft land unexpectedly because of engine failure or bad weather
Compounds
A branch of a country's military that uses planes to fight and protect the country
The part of the United States military that flies planes and defends the country in the air and space
A branch of the United States military that fights in the air and space
A group of soldiers and other people trained to protect a country from attack
- Specialized
A pull between all objects, especially Earth's pull on things near its surface
A branch of the United States military that uses planes and works in space to defend the country
- Literature
A group of people trained like soldiers to act with or for the army
- Formal
A large unexpected event like a natural disaster or war that prevents someone from fulfilling a contract
The army, navy, and air force of Israel working together to protect the country
- Specialized
A force that holds protons and neutrons together inside an atom's nucleus
- Specialized
A basic interaction in nature that causes some radioactive decay and acts on particles like neutrinos
A group of armed fighters who use sudden attacks against a larger army in rural areas
A group of guards a company or person hires to protect people and property
A school that trains people to be officers in the US Air Force at Colorado Springs
An evil part of a mysterious power that bad characters use in Star Wars
- Specialized
A pull that makes two things move toward each other, like gravity or magnets
- Jargon
A baseball out that happens when a fielder holding the ball touches the base a runner must reach
- Specialized
An imaginary line that shows the direction of force at points in an electric or magnetic field
- Specialized
Invisible lines around a magnet that show which way its pull points
A United States military school in Colorado Springs that trains Air Force officers
- Specialized
An imaginary line showing the direction a positive electric charge moves and how strong the field is
- Specialized
Energy from a source that makes electricity flow in a circuit, measured in volts
- Specialized
A list of metals that shows which metal can replace another in a liquid
- Specialized
A push or pull from air on something moving through it, for example lift and drag on a wing
A former part of the United States Air Force that managed military space and missile operations
- Specialized
A United States Air Force group that researches and develops new aircraft and space technology
- Specialized
A system that uses a pump to push oil under pressure into an engine's moving parts
- Specialized
A play where a runner must advance and a fielder with the ball touches the base first
- Specialized
A play when a runner must go to a base and a player holding the ball touches it first
- Specialized
A force on a moving electric charge caused by electric and magnetic fields
- Offensive
A violent armed group in Northern Ireland formed in 1996 that was against the peace process
- Specialized
A unit for measuring the force that pushes a magnetic field through a circuit
- Specialized
The push you feel when you speed up, compared with normal gravity like on a roller coaster
A group of armed fighters not part of the official army who use surprise attacks and sabotage
- Specialized
An attack by a large group of soldiers to test the enemy and collect information
- Specialized
A force that pushes against a moving object, like air or water, to slow it down
An illegal armed group in Colombia formed in 1997 that fought and sold drugs
How Forceful
- Offensive
Surface Forms
Etymology
Force as a verb comes from the same root fortis 'strong' and old words meaning to use strength, so to 'force' someone is to use power or pressure to make them do something. That is why to force someone is to compel or push them into action.