Meanings
verbcoerce (third-person singular simple present coerces, present participle coercing, simple past and past participle coerced)
present singular third person coerces · participle present coercing · participle past coerced · past coerced
- transitiveTo restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb.
- transitiveTo use force, threat, fraud, or intimidation in an attempt to compel one to act against their will.
They coerced their children into going to the country park.
1 more example
A woman who freely engages in any of these activities, or who rejects anti-porn dogma, is thought to be coerced, brainwashed, an apologist of the patriarchy or a "social man." A woman who agrees that she has been coerced into one of these activities will be honored by anti-porners. The opinions of the rest of us are routinely discounted.
1984 December 22, Gayle Rubin, “Censored: Anti-Porn Laws And Women's Liberation”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 23, page 8Synonyms: hustle
- transitivecomputingTo force an attribute, normally of a data type, to take on the attribute of another data type.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo use force, threat, fraud, or intimidation in an attempt to compel one to act against their will.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
verbto cause to do through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latincoërceō“to surround, encompass, restrain, control, curb”
- Englishcoerce
From Latin coërceō (“to surround, encompass, restrain, control, curb”), from co- (“together”) + arceō (“to inclose, confine, keep off”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic أَجْبَرَ, اِضْطَرَّ
- أَجْبَرَ (ʔajbara)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- اِضْطَرَّ (iḍṭarra)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Bulgarian принужда́вам, прину́дя
- принужда́вам (prinuždávam)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- прину́дя (prinúdja)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- заста́вям (zastávjam)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- заста́вя (zastávja)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Chinese Mandarin 強行制止 /强行制止, 強制 /强制
- 強行制止 /强行制止 (qiángxíng zhìzhǐ)to restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- 強制 /强制 (qiángzhì)to restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- 約束 /约束 (yuēshù)to restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- 強迫 /强迫 (qiǎngpò, qiángpò)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- 脅迫 /胁迫 (xiépò)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- 威脅 /威胁 (wēixié)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- 強迫轉型 /强迫转型 (qiǎngpò zhuǎnxíng)to force an attribute, normally of a data type, to take on the attribute of another data type
Czech nutit, donutit
- nutitto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- donutitto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- přinutitto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Dutch onderdrukken, dwingen
- onderdrukkento restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- dwingento use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- afdwingento use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- forcerento use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- forcerento force an attribute, normally of a data type, to take on the attribute of another data type
Finnish rajoittaa, tukahduttaa
- rajoittaato restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- tukahduttaato restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- pakottaato use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- painostaato use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- pakottaato force an attribute, normally of a data type, to take on the attribute of another data type
French retenir, forcer
- retenirto restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- forcerto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- contraindreto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- forcerto force an attribute, normally of a data type, to take on the attribute of another data type
German erzwingen, zwingen
- erzwingento restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- zwingento use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- konvertierento force an attribute, normally of a data type, to take on the attribute of another data type
- erzwingento force an attribute, normally of a data type, to take on the attribute of another data type
Greek αναγκάζω, εξαναγκάζω
- αναγκάζω (anagkázo)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- εξαναγκάζω (exanagkázo)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Italian costringere
- costringereto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Japanese 強いる
- 強いる (shiiru)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Korean 강요하다
- 강요하다 (gang'yohada)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Latin coërceō
- coërceōto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Māori uruhi
- uruhito use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Norwegian tvinge
- tvingeto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Polish zmuszać, zmusić
- zmuszaćto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- zmusićto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Portuguese coagir, forçar
- coagirto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- forçarto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Russian уде́рживать, удержа́ть
- уде́рживать (udérživatʹ)to restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- удержа́ть (uderžátʹ)to restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- заставля́ть (zastavljátʹ)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- заста́вить (zastávitʹ)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- принужда́ть (prinuždátʹ)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- прину́дить (prinúditʹ)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Slovak nútiť, donútiť
- nútiťto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- donútiťto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- prinútiťto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Spanish coercer, coaccionar
- coercerto restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- coaccionarto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- coercerto force an attribute, normally of a data type, to take on the attribute of another data type
Turkish mecbur etmek, zorlamak
- mecbur etmekto restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- zorlamakto restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb
- zorlamakto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- mecbur etmekto use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Ukrainian приму́шувати, приму́сити
- приму́шувати (prymúšuvaty)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- приму́сити (prymúsyty)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- зму́шувати (zmúšuvaty)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
- зму́сити (zmúsyty)to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against their will
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with coerce
universereversenurseworsediverseversepurseconversetraversetransversereimburseperversedisperseimmerseaverseterseobversehearsemultiversedisburseperserecursebursea blessing and a curse
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
coerce. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coerce
MLA
“coerce.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coerce. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coerce,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coerce.
Source: coerce on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.