coercion

C3O1E1R1C3I1O1N1
UK/kəʊˈɜːʃən/US/koʊˈɝʒən/US/koʊˈɝʃən/Australia/kəʉˈɜːʃən/

noun

Actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person; the act of coercing.

Similar
Opposite
Less commonScrabble 12

Meanings

nouncoercion (countable and uncountable, plural coercions)

plural coercions · alternative misspelling coersion · alternative dated coërcion

  1. uncountableActual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person; the act of coercing.

    One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of the United States is the creation of conditions in which we and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free from coercion.

    1947 March 12, Harry S. Truman, 5:24 from the start, in MP72-14 Excerpt - Truman Doctrine Speech, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162
  2. uncountablelawUse of physical or moral force to compel a person to do something, or to abstain from doing something, thereby depriving that person of the exercise of free will.
  3. countableA specific instance of coercing.
  4. countablecomputingConversion of a value of one data type to a value of another data type.
  5. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe process by which the meaning of a word or other linguistic element is reinterpreted to match the grammatical context.

    But often the pieces of information do not fit together and have to be shifted in meaning to confirm with the rest of the sentence. These shifts are called coercion

    2008, Oliver Bott, “Doing It Again and Again May Be Difficult, But It Depends on What You Are Doing”, in Proceedings of the 27th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, page 63
    1 more example

    ...a conversion of mass nouns into count readings according to sorter and portion coercion is only possible if the denotation of a mass noun already comprises minimal parts into which the noun can be subdivided.

    2016, Susanne Mohr, “From Accra to Nairobi – the use of pluralized mass nouns in East and West African postcolonial Englishes”, in Daniel Schmidt-Brücken, Susanne Schuster, Marina Wienberg, editors, Aspects of (Post)Colonial Linguistics, Berlin: DeGruyter, →OCLC, page 161
  6. countableuncountableThe initiation or threat of conflict; aggression.

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite

nounusing force to cause something to occur

Similar
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latincoërcitiō“magisterial coercion”
  2. Old Frenchcohercion
  3. Middle Englishcohercioun
  4. Englishcoercion

Inherited from Middle English cohercioun, from Old French cohercion, from Latin coërcitiō (“magisterial coercion”), from past participle coercitus of coërceō (“to restrain, coerce”), from co- (“with”) + arceō (“to shut in, enclose”); see coerce.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic قَهْر, قَسْر
  • قَهْر (qahr)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • قَسْر (qasr)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • غَصْب (ḡaṣb)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • عَنْت (ʕant)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • دَفْع (dafʕ)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • جَبْر (jabr)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • اِضْطِرَار (iḍṭirār)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • إِلْزَام (ʔilzām)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • إِكْرَاه (ʔikrāh)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • إِرْغَام (ʔirḡām)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • إِجْبَار (ʔijbār)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • إِكْرَاه (ʔikrāh)use of force to compel
Bulgarian принуда, насилие
  • принуда (prinuda)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • насилие (nasilie)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Catalan coerció, coerció
  • coercióactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • coercióinstance of coercing
Chinese Mandarin 強迫 /强迫, 威迫
  • 強迫 /强迫 (qiǎngpò)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • 威迫 (wēipò)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Czech donucení
  • donuceníactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Danish tvang
  • tvangactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Dutch dwang
  • dwangactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Esperanto altipigo
  • altipigocomputing: conversion of a value of one data type to another
Estonian sundimine, sund
  • sundimineactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • sundactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Finnish pakko, pakkokeino
  • pakkoactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • pakkokeinoactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • pakottaminenuse of force to compel
  • pakottamineninstance of coercing
  • pakottaminencomputing: conversion of a value of one data type to another
French coercition, coercition
  • coercitionactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • coercitioncomputing: conversion of a value of one data type to another
German Zwang, Nötigung
  • Zwangactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • Nötigunguse of force to compel
Greek εξαναγκασμός, καταπίεση
  • εξαναγκασμός (exanagkasmós)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • καταπίεση (katapíesi)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • εξαναγκασμός (exanagkasmós)use of force to compel
  • εξαναγκασμός (exanagkasmós)instance of coercing
Hebrew כפייה
  • כפייה (kfi'a)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Hindi ज़ोर-जबरदस्ती, प्रपीड़न
  • ज़ोर-जबरदस्ती (zor-jabardastī)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • प्रपीड़न (prapīṛan)use of force to compel
  • ज़ोर-जबरदस्ती (zor-jabardastī)use of force to compel
Hungarian kényszer, kényszerítés
  • kényszeractual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • kényszerítésuse of force to compel
  • kényszerítésinstance of coercing
  • konverziócomputing: conversion of a value of one data type to another
Indonesian paksaan
  • paksaanactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Italian coercizione
  • coercizioneactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Japanese 強制, 威圧
  • 強制 (kyōsei)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • 威圧 (iatsu)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • 強迫 (kyōhaku)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Korean 강제, 강압
  • 강제 (gangje)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • 강압 (gang'ap)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Latin coactus, coactus
  • coactusactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • coactususe of force to compel
Latvian piespiešana, spiediens
  • piespiešanaactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • spiediensactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Lithuanian prievarta, privertimas
  • prievartaactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • privertimasactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Māori uruhanga
  • uruhangaactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Norwegian tvang
  • tvangactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Polish przymus
  • przymusactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Portuguese coação, coerção
  • coaçãoactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • coerçãoactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • coerçãouse of force to compel
Romanian coerciție, coercitare
  • coercițieactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • coercitareuse of force to compel
Russian принужде́ние, наси́лие
  • принужде́ние (prinuždénije)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • наси́лие (nasílije)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • принужде́ние (prinuždénije)use of force to compel
  • приведение (privedenije)computing: conversion of a value of one data type to another
Scottish Gaelic ceannsachadh, ceannsachadh
  • ceannsachadhactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • ceannsachadhuse of force to compel
Slovak donútenie, prinútenie
  • donútenieactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • prinútenieactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Spanish coerción
  • coerciónactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Swedish betvingande, tvång
  • betvingandeactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • tvångactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Turkish zorlama, cebir
  • zorlamaactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
  • cebiruse of force to compel
  • icbaruse of force to compel
Ukrainian при́мус
  • при́мус (prýmus)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Vietnamese sự ép buộc
  • sự ép buộcactual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person
Yiddish צוואַנג
  • צוואַנג (tsvang)actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

coercion. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coercion

MLA

“coercion.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coercion. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coercion,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coercion.

Source: coercion on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.