Meanings
- With a substantial number of men capable of exerting force or of making a show of force.
The police arrived in force at dawn to raid the drug lab.
1 more example
1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure Patrick was a cabbie & a dispatcher at Yellow Cab & when we got to the church where the [funeral] services were being held, the cabbies came out in force for Pat & there were at least 30 cabs pulling into the church parking lot.
- With a substantial display of resources.
They made the presentation in force to try to impress the client.
- businessIn effect; applicable.
Some of the old laws against treason are no longer in force.
Synonyms: effective
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseIn effect; applicable.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Catalan vigent
- vigentapplicable
Chinese Mandarin 傾力 /倾力
- 傾力 /倾力applicable
Finnish voimassa
- voimassaapplicable
French en vigueur
- en vigueurapplicable
German in Kraft
- in Kraftapplicable
Greek εν ισχύι
- εν ισχύι (en ischýi)applicable
Irish i bhfeidhm
- i bhfeidhmapplicable
Italian vigente, in vigore
- vigenteapplicable
- in vigoreapplicable
Korean 유효한
- 유효한 (yuhyohan)applicable
Portuguese em vigor, vigente
- em vigorapplicable
- vigenteapplicable
Spanish en vigor, vigente
- en vigorapplicable
- vigenteapplicable
Welsh mewn grym
- mewn grymapplicable
Cite this entry
in force. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20force
“in force.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20force. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in force,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20force.
Source: in force on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.