English edit

Etymology edit

From Middle English par force, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French par force (by force).

Pronunciation edit

Adverb edit

perforce (not comparable)

  1. (archaic) By force.
  2. By constraint of circumstances; of necessity, inevitably, unavoidably; as a matter of course.
    • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 17, in Pride and Prejudice: [], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: [] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, [], →OCLC:
      Mr. Wickham's happiness and her own were perforce delayed a little longer, and Mr. Collins's proposal accepted with as good a grace as she could..
    • 1882, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Inferno, canto 34:
      "Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these,"
      The Master said, panting as one fatigued,
      "Must we perforce depart from so much evil."
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, [], →OCLC:
      So, bevelling around by Mullett's and the Signal House which they shortly reached, they proceeded perforce in the direction of Amiens street railway terminus
    • 1939 July, John D. Hewitt, “Some Notable British Main Lines: 1. Settle and Carlisle, L.M.S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 35:
      Accordingly work perforce had to be begun. The first sod was cut at Anley, near Settle, in November, 1869, [...].
    • 2006, Alejandro Portes, Rubén G. Rumbaut, Immigrant America: A Portrait, 3rd edition, page 239:
      Adult immigrants must perforce learn some English, and their children are likely to become English monolinguals.
    • 2013 January 8, European Court of Human Rights, A.K. and L. v. Croatia[1], number 37956/11, marginal 62–63:
      The central issue in this case is whether the procedures followed respected the applicants’ family life or constituted an interference with the exercise of the right to respect for family life which could not be justified as necessary in a democratic society. […] It is true that Article 8 contains no explicit procedural requirements, but this is not conclusive of the matter. The relevant considerations to be weighed by a local authority in reaching decisions on children in its care must perforce include the views and interests of the natural parents.

Quotations edit

Translations edit

Verb edit

perforce (third-person singular simple present perforces, present participle perforcing, simple past and past participle perforced)

  1. (obsolete) To force; to compel.