force
IPA: fˈɔrs
noun
- 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.
- (usually with "the", in the singular or plural) Synonym of police force
- (countable, Northern England) A waterfall or cascade.
- (Northern England) Falls. used in place names.
- A surname.
verb
- (transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape.
- (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To exert oneself, to do one's utmost.
- (transitive) To make someone or something do something, often regardless of their will.
- (transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of.
- (transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb).
- (transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force.
- (transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.).
- 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.
- To stuff; to lard; to farce.
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Examples of "force" in Sentences
- And now we force him -- _force_ him into these intimate relations.
- The great man concentrates his force with a wave of his hand for the _tour de force_ of the year, the despatch of the Hielant train.
- What we want to do is to increase the attractive force, in order to prevent this tangential motion -- to increase the _force of gravity_.
- At present I will proceed to consider the second of the forces, or manifestations of force, which are developed in moving bodies -- _centrifugal force_.
- Yet to force any of our principles upon her attention when she is in a hostile mood -- or to _force_ them, indeed, in any mood -- is to invite just this attitude.
- In many cases it is desirable to force water considerably above the pump itself, as, for instance, in the fire hose; under such circumstances a type of pump is employed which has received the name of _force pump_.
- It would appear that heat, light, electricity, sound, the cathode rays, and all other forms of force in nature are probably variations, and as it were limited expressions and manifestations, of _the one supreme force_ that supports the constitution of the physical universe; and that one supreme force is
- The dynamical force, that which produces motion, is the centripetal force, drawing the body continually from the tangential direction, toward the center; and what is termed centrifugal force is merely the resistance which the body opposes to this deflection, _precisely like any other resistance to a force_.
- Regiment by a detachment of _equal force_ of the Eleventh Regiment, this force of _one company_ being now stationed at the Temiscouata post, as it _always has been_, for the necessary purpose of protecting the stores and accommodations provided for the use of Her Majesty's troops who may be required, as heretofore, to march by that route to and from the
- And, further, if it be true that the human will is a physical energy, we have here the discovery of a _new force_ -- a force just as new to science as magnetism or electricity -- and vastly more interesting, since it is intimately associated with all of us, and subject to our direction, guidance, and command -- a force for us to wield and manipulate -- for weal or woe!
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