force

See also Force, and forcé

English

Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English force, fors, forse, from Old French force, from Late Latin fortia, from neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”).

Noun

force (countable and uncountable; plural forces)

Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia

  1. (countable) Anything that is able to make a big change in a person or thing.
  2. (countable, physics) A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body which is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
    • 2012 March 1, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 112-3: 
      A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place. Applying a force tangential to the knob is essentially equivalent to applying one perpendicular to a radial line defining the lever.
  3. (countable) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
    • 2004 April 15, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, The Scotsman:
      For Lothian and Borders Police, the early-morning raid had come at the end one of biggest investigations carried out by the force, which had originally presented a dossier of evidence on the murder of Jodi Jones to the Edinburgh procurator-fiscal, William Gallagher, on 25 November last year.
    police force
  4. (uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.
    show of force
  5. (countable) A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person.
  6. (law) Legal validity.
    The law will come into force in January.
  7. (law) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
Usage notes
  • Adjectives often applied to "force": military, cultural, economic, gravitational, electric, magnetic, strong, weak, positive, negative, attractive, repulsive, good, evil, dark, physical, muscular, spiritual, intellectual, mental, emotional, rotational, tremendous, huge.
Derived terms
Terms derived from "force"
Translations
anything that is able to make a big change in person or thing
physical quantity that denotes ability to accelerate a body
group that aims to attack, control, or constrain
ability to attack, control, or constrain
magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand
law: legal validity
law: unlawful violence or lawful compulsion
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

force (third-person singular simple present forces, present participle forcing, simple past and past participle forced)

  1. (transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape. [from 14th c.]
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:
      He hath murthered that mylde withoute ony mercy – he forced hir by fylth of hymself, and so aftir slytte hir unto the navyll.
    • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.1:
      a young woman not farre from mee had headlong cast her selfe out of a high window, with intent to kill herselfe, only to avoid the ravishment of a rascally-base souldier that lay in her house, who offered to force her [...].
  2. (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To exert oneself, to do one's utmost. [from 14th c.]
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVIII:
      And I pray you for my sake to force yourselff there, that men may speke you worshyp.
  3. (transitive) To compel (someone or something) to do something. [from 15th c.]
    • 2011, Tim Webb & Fiona Harvey, The Guardian, 23 Mar 2011:
      Housebuilders had warned that the higher costs involved would have forced them to build fewer homes and priced many homebuyers out of the market.
  4. (transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of. [from 16th c.]
    • 1603, John Florio, trans. Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I.40:
      Shall wee force the general law of nature, which in all living creatures under heaven is seene to tremble at paine?
  5. (transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb). [from 16th c.]
    • 2007, The Guardian, 4 Nov 2007:
      In a groundbreaking move, the Pentagon is compensating servicemen seriously hurt when an American tank convoy forced them off the road.
  6. (transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force. [from 16th c.]
    • 2009, "All things to Althingi", The Economist, 23 Jul 2009:
      The second problem is the economy, the shocking state of which has forced the decision to apply to the EU.
  7. (transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.). [from 17th c.]
    To force a lock.
  8. (transitive, baseball) To create an out by touching a base in advance of a runner who has no base to return to while in possession of a ball which has already touched the ground.
    • Jones forced the runner at second by stepping on the bag.
Translations
compel (someone to do something)
cause to occur, overcoming resistance
baseball To create an out by touching a base
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
Derived terms

See also

Etymology 2

From Old Norse fors (“waterfall”). Cognate with Swedish fors (“waterfall”)

Noun

force (plural forces)

  1. (countable, Northern England) A waterfall or cascade
Translations
waterfall — see waterfall

Statistics

External links

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French

Etymology

From Old French force, from Late Latin neuter plural fortia, from Latin adjective fortis. Compare Catalan and Portuguese força, Italian forza, Spanish fuerza.

Pronunciation

Noun

force f (plural forces)

  1. force.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Verb

force

  1. first-person singular present indicative of forcer
  2. third-person singular present indicative of forcer
  3. first-person singular present subjunctive of forcer
  4. third-person singular present subjunctive of forcer
  5. second-person singular imperative of forcer
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Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Late Latin *fortia, Classical Latin fortis

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fɔrsə/

Noun

force f (oblique plural forces, nominative singular force, nominative plural forces)

  1. strength; might

Related terms

Descendants

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Portuguese

Verb

force

  1. First-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of forçar.
  2. Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você?) present subjunctive of forçar.
  3. First-person singular (eu) affirmative imperative of forçar.
  4. Third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of forçar.
  5. First-person singular (eu) negative imperative of forçar.
  6. Third-person singular (você) negative imperative of forçar.
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Last modified on 16 May 2013, at 10:29