Etimology
From Middle English force, fors, forse, from Old French force, from Late Latin fortia, a noun derived from the neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).
noun
force (countable and uncountable, plural forces)
Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.
Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.
(countable) Anything that is able to make a substantial change in a person or thing.
(countable, physics) A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body and which has a direction and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
Something or anything that has the power to produce a physical effect upon something else, such as causing it to move or change shape.
(countable) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
(uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.
(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.
(law) Legal validity.
(law) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
(linguistics, semantics, pragmatics) Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect a given meaning.
(humorous or science fiction, with the, often capitalized) A metaphysical and ubiquitous power from the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. See usage note. [1977]
(usually with "the", in the singular or plural) Synonym of police force
Examples
the force of an appeal, an argument, or a contract
He was, in the full force of the words, a good man.
which now they hold by force, and not by right
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.
reinforcemented increased the American force in the area to 9,000
police force
Is Lucius general of the forces?
"A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there. […]."
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.
show of force
The law will come into force in January.
When the aspectual force of the verbal categories weakens, the 'terminative', punctual or determinative value of the prefix gains in importance,...
The Europeans tried, my goodness how they tried. But on the day the US proved too strong and too inspired. They were, dammit, just better. And when Leonard's putt dropped they clearly had the force with them as well.
The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
Q. All the time that he was on the force? A. I cannot say that; but there were men on with me when I was on the force who were very good Republicans. Q. During all this time you have been on the police force?
Some of those that work forces / Are the same that burn crosses
Niall was on the force, too, a detective in major crimes.
Related words
hyponyms
air force
armed forces
breakout force
brute force
centrifugal force
centripetal force
conservative force
Coriolis force
Coulomb force
fictitious force
fifth force
fundamental force
gale force
g-force
market force
police force
restoring force
spent force
task force
tractive force
wind force
workforce
Etimology
From Middle English forcen, from Old French forcier, from Late Latin *fortiāre, from Latin fortia.
verb
force (third-person singular simple present forces, present participle forcing, simple past and past participle forced)
(transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape. [from 14thc.]
(obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To exert oneself, to do one's utmost. [from 14thc.]
(transitive) To make someone or something do something, often regardless of their will. [from 15thc.]
(transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of. [from 16thc.]
(transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb). [from 16thc.]
(transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force. [from 16thc.]
(transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.). [from 17thc.]
To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.
(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.
(whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold.
(archaic) To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.
(archaic) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
(obsolete) To allow the force of; to value; to care for.
To grow (rhubarb) in the dark, causing it to grow early.
Examples
For yf ye were suche fyfty as ye be / ye were not able to make resystence ageynst this deuyl / here lyeth a duchesse deede the whiche was the fayrest of alle the world wyf to syre Howel / duc of Bretayne / he hath murthred her in forcynge her / and has slytte her vnto the nauyl
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 […].
And I pray you for my sake to force yourselff there, that men may speke you worshyp.
Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
Housebuilders had warned that the higher costs involved would have forced them to build fewer homes and priced many homebuyers out of the market.
The hourly Southampton to London Victoria service via Horsham has been axed, as has the direct Littlehampton-Bognor Regis service, forcing passengers to change [trains] at Barnham.
Shall wee force the general law of nature, which in all living creatures under heaven is seene to tremble at paine?
It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay / That scarce the victor forced the steel away.
to force the tyrant from his seat by war
Ethelbert […] ordered that none should be forced into religion.The spelling has been modernized.
The spelling has been modernized.
In a groundbreaking move, the Pentagon is compensating servicemen seriously hurt when an American tank convoy forced them off the road.
The comedian's jokes weren't funny, but I forced a laugh now and then.
The second problem is the economy, the shocking state of which has forced the decision to apply to the EU.
To force a lock.
Jones forced the runner at second by stepping on the bag.
VVhat can the Church force more?
Were they not forc’d with thoſe that ſhould be ours, / We might haue met them darefull, beard to beard, / And beate them backward home.
For me, I force not argument a straw.
Etimology
From Middle English force, forz, fors, from Old Norse fors (“waterfall”), from Proto-Germanic *fursaz (“waterfall”). Cognate with Icelandic foss (“waterfall”), Norwegian foss (“waterfall”), Swedish fors (“waterfall”). Doublet of foss.
noun
force (plural forces)
(countable, Northern England) A waterfall or cascade.
Examples
to see the falls or force of the river Kent
Etimology
From Middle English forcen, forsen, a use of force, with confusion of farce (“to stuff”).
verb
force (third-person singular simple present forces, present participle forcing, simple past and past participle forced)
To stuff; to lard; to farce.
Examples
Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit.