to force
- verb
- /fɔrs/
- So I ended up forcing this girl that I just broke up with.
- forced labor
- forced removal
- force a withdrawal
It tries to force into subjection the other.
- It tries to force into subjection the other.
Examples
-
The two men struggle with Jacob and force him into the water.
Fiction book (1990) -
Back then, when they closed down small villages and forced people to move to town.
-
And then forced her to call home and say she was okay?
-
I shall force someone to take the body away from him.
-
Regrettably, we now believe that only force will make him leave.
-
They panicked, attacked and forced us to defend ourselves.
-
Allied troops tried to March to Athens but were forced to withdraw by Greek royalist forces.
-
On several occasions, the Gestapo forced their way into Wolfram's family home in order to search for banned books.
Academic text (2011) -
Unlike middle-class parents, however, many low-income parents are forced to seek education in poorly performing neighborhood schools.
Academic text (2013) -
The soldiers forced entry into the building to rescue the hostages.
Synonyms
To attack and take a place suddenly with force
Make someone give you something by using pressure or threats
To take control from someone by force or strong effort
To force something away from someone after a struggle
Use a tool or force to open something that is stuck
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 Aggressive
Surface Forms
Etymology
Force in the sense of taking something by power comes from the old idea of strength in Latin fortis 'strong', so to 'force' a place is to take it using strength or violence. That is why force can mean to capture or enter by power.