forcible

comparative more forcible · superlative most forcible

1. Done by force, forced.

   The forcible administration of poison is by no means a new thing in criminal annals.

   1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part II (The Country of the Saints), chapter VII (The Conclusion), page 93

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   I fled; but he pursued (though more, it seems, / Inflamed with lust than rage), and, swifter far, / Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed, / And, in embraces forcible and foul / Engendering with me, of that rape begot / These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry / Surround me, as thou saw'st—

   1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 790-796

   Since the forcible ejection of pugilist Siki from the New York Bar in Paris, discussion of Negro rights has become serious.

   1923 March 9, “Jim Crow Tendency”, in Time

   2008, U.S. Department of Justice – Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States Forcible rape, as defined in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Attempts or assaults to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded.

2. obsoleterareHaving (physical) force, forceful.

   […] he drew her to him, laid a forcible detaining arm about her waist, and misapprehended her frantic revolt for an exhibition of maidenly reluctance.

   1911 March, Jack London, chapter XXVI, in Adventure, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC

3. Having a powerful effect; forceful, telling, strong, convincing, effective.

   How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 6:25

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   But that which hath been once most sufficient, may wax otherwise by alteration of time and place; that punishment which hath been sometimes forcible to bridle sin, may grow afterwards too weak and feebled.

   [1594], Richard Hooker, chapter III, in J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)

   Thou hast frighted the word out of his right sense, so forcible is thy wit.

   1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

   1859, Francis Bacon, Historia Densi et Rari (1623), translated by James Spedding and Robert Leslie Ellis, in The Philosophical Works of Francis Bacon, edited by James Spedding, London: Longman & Co., 1861, Vol. II, section 388, p. 470, Sweet smells are most forcible in dry substances, when broken; and so likewise in oranges or lemons, the nipping off their rind giveth out their smell more […]

   [...] indeed, it is seldom that a week passes but that we receive forcible reminders of the lynx-eyed scrutiny to which each successive issue is subjected by the experts.

   1944 May and June, “In the Critics' Den”, in Railway Magazine, page 132

   They all jumped up, shaking the water out of their ears and wringing their little blankets, and asked the Giant in shrill but forcible voices whether he thought they weren’t wet enough without this sort of thing.

   1951, C. S. Lewis, chapter 7, in Prince Caspian, Collins, published 1998

4. Able to be forced.

   […] it seems that an entry is not forcible by the bare drawing up a latch, or pulling back the bolt of a door, there being no appearance therein of its being done by strong hand, or multitude of people; […]

   1831, Richard Burn, Joseph Chitty, Thomas Chitty, The Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer, volume 1, page 793

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   But an entry may be forcible, not only in respect of a violence actually done to the person of a man, but also in respect of any other kind of violence in the manner of the entry, as by breaking open the doors of a house […]

   1835, Sir Thomas Edlyne Tomlins, Thomas Colpitts Granger, The Law-dictionary