Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Compulsion
Com-pul′sion
,Noun.
[L.
compulsio
. See Compel
.] The act of compelling, or the state of being compelled; the act of driving or urging by force or by physical or moral constraint; subjection to force.
If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon
compulsion
. Shakespeare
Syn. – See
Constraint
. Webster 1828 Edition
Compulsion
COMPULSION
,Noun.
1.
The act of driving or urging by force, physical or moral; force applied; constraint of the will; the application of a force that is irresistible.If reasons were as plenty as blackberries, I would give no man a reason on compulsion.
A man is excused for acts done through unavoidable force and compulsion.
2.
The state of being compelled or urged by violence.Definition 2024
compulsion
compulsion
See also: compulsión
English
Noun
compulsion (plural compulsions)
- An irrational need to perform some action, often despite negative consequences.
- 2016 January 17, "Wealthy cabals run America," Al Jazeera America (retrieved 18 January 2016):
- But Treaty translator and Ottawa leader Andrew Blackbird described the Treaty as made “not with the free will of the Indians, but by compulsion.”
- 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:
- It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].
- During the basketball game, I had a sudden compulsion to have a smoke.
- 2016 January 17, "Wealthy cabals run America," Al Jazeera America (retrieved 18 January 2016):
- The use of authority, influence, or other power to force (compel) a person or persons to act.
- The lawful use of violence (i.e. by the administration).
Related terms
Translations
irrational need to perform some action
|
use of power to force a person to act
|
|
lawful use of violence
|
|
External links
- compulsion in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- compulsion in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911