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coercion

coercion

56 6.9
The act of making someone do something by using threats or violence
  • noun
  • /koʊˈɜrʃən/
  • Offensive
translation icon : coacción
  • There's bullying and there's coercion.
  • violent coercion
  • nonviolent coercion
  • sexual coercion

When love meets coercion, that's what we call the trauma bond.

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Examples

  • With its monopoly over the instruments of coercion, the military easily overthrows civilian governments.

    Academic text (1990)
  • The police used coercion to extract a confession from the suspect.

  • So in that case, could we say that some coercion is going on?

  • No form of commercial coercion is, is, is legal.

  • That is a strong element of coercion in a world, right?

  • Some who join under coercion later engage in terrible acts.

  • Explicit threats are an obvious form of coercion, but not all coercion needs to be explicit.

  • Even if there's no sort of overt physical force, there is coercion by threat of force.

  • That's not choice, that's coercion, OK.

  • When love meets coercion, that's what we call the trauma bond.

Synonyms

bullying
vscoercion
  • Offensive
148 2.7

Treating someone weaker badly to control or frighten them

is the general act of forcing someone without focusing on weakness or power dynamics
intimidation
vscoercion
84 6.5

Making someone scared by threats or pressure to stop them

forces someone to act through threats or force rather than only creating fear
duress
vscoercion
  • NSFW
34 7.9

Pressure by threats or force that makes someone act against their will

is the everyday term for forcing someone rather than a legal label
compulsion
vscoercion
14 6.5

Someone forces you to do something

focuses on the act of making someone do something rather than the passive state
arm-twisting
vscoercion
  • Informal
5 6.3

Strong pressure from someone to make you do something

involves force or explicit threats rather than mainly personal pressure or persuasion
coerciveness
vscoercion
  • Offensive
7.9

The use of force or threats to make someone do something

refers to the specific action that forces someone to do something

Antonyms

consent
  • Formal
344 3.2

Permission for something to happen, often given in writing

voluntary
  • Specialized
11 3.9

Done on purpose by a person, not without thinking

How Coercive

violence
  • Offensive
2.8
coercion
  • Offensive
56 6.9
pressure
256 3.2
persuasion
45 3.6

Surface Forms

coercion singular
coercions plural

Morphology

coercion = coerce (transparent) = coerce + ion

The noun is a regular nominalization of the verb 'coerce' with the productive suffix '-ion', so the meaning 'the act or process of coercing' is directly predictable.

Etymology

Coercion comes from the Latin word coercere, which means 'to keep in' or 'restrain'. It is the same root as the verb coerce, so coercion means making someone do something by force or threats.