Compulse

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To force or drive someone to act in a certain way, often against their own inclination or will
2. To press a person into doing something through pressure, necessity, or authority that leaves little choice
3. To constrain or oblige another to take a particular course of action, typically in an archaic sense

Etymology: "Compulse" is a verb meaning to force someone into action, and it is a back-formation: English speakers took the older noun-derived form "compulsion" and its relative "compulsive" and worked backward from them. The verb "compel" came first, borrowed from Latin "compellere," meaning "to drive together" or "to force," built from "com-" (together) and "pellere" (to drive or push). The Latin root sense of physically driving things into one place survives faintly in the word's force. The verb "compulse" appears in English far later than "compel," and its use is much narrower. Because it was formed from "compulsion" rather than inherited from Latin, it carries the same sense of pressure and coercion but sounds more like a modern extension of an existing family of words. It remains uncommon, and most dictionaries treat it as a rare or informal alternative to "compel."

Synonyms: compel, force, coerce, oblige, constrain

Antonyms: free, permit, allow, release, deter