English

Adverb

perforce ‎(not comparable)

1. (archaic) By force.
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act iii, scene 1 (First Folio):

     If ſhe denie, Lord Hastings goe with him,
     And from her iealous Armes pluck him perforce.

   • 1610, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, act 5, scene 1:

     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.

2. Necessarily.
   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, ch. 17:

     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..

   • 1882, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Inferno, canto 34:

     "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."

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, Episode 16:

     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

   • 2006, Alejandro Portes, Rubén G. Rumbaut, Immigrant America: A Portrait, 3rd ed., page 239:

     Adult immigrants must perforce learn some English, and their children are likely to become English monolinguals.

Quotations

• For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:perforce.

Translations

Verb

perforce ‎(third-person singular simple present perforces, present participle perforcing, simple past and past participle perforced)

1. (obsolete) To force; to compel.