compulsion

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

compulsion

an irresistible impulse; coercion: She couldn’t fight her compulsion to buy things she didn’t need.

Not to be confused with:

compunction – regret; contrition; remorse: She felt no compunction about taking what didn’t belong to her.

com·pul·sion

(kəm-pŭl′shən)

a. The act of compelling.

b. The state of being compelled.

2. An irresistible impulse to act, regardless of the rationality of the motivation: "He felt an animal compulsion to flee the hotel and the city" (Paul Theroux).

3. Psychiatry An act or ritual that a person feels compelled to perform repeatedly, often to reduce the distress caused by an obsession.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin compulsiō, compulsiōn-, from Latin compulsus, past participle of compellere, to compel; see compel.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

compulsion

(kəmˈpʌlʃən)

1. the act of compelling or the state of being compelled

2. something that compels

3. (Psychiatry) psychiatry an inner drive that causes a person to perform actions, often of a trivial and repetitive nature, against his or her will. See also obsession

[C15: from Old French, from Latin compellere to compel]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

com•pul•sion

(kəmˈpʌl ʃən)

n.

1. the act of compelling; constraint; coercion.

2. the state or condition of being compelled.

3. a strong, usu. irresistible impulse to perform an act, esp. one that is irrational or contrary to one's will.

[1375–1425; late Middle English (< Anglo-French) < Late Latin compulsiō, derivative (with -tiō -tion) of Latin compellere; see compel]

compulsion

An irresistible urge, often a neurotic reaction, taking such forms as having to wash one’s hands every few minutes or touching certain objects before leaving a room.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	compulsion - an urge to do or say something that might be better left undone or unsaid; "he felt a compulsion to babble on about the accident" irresistible impulse irrational impulse - a strong spontaneous and irrational motivation; "his first impulse was to denounce them"; "the urge to find out got him into trouble"
	2.	compulsion - an irrational motive for performing trivial or repetitive actions, even against your will; "her compulsion to wash her hands repeatedly" obsession irrational motive - a motivation that is inconsistent with reason or logic onomatomania - obsession with a particular word which the person uses repeatedly or which intrudes into consciousness
	3.	compulsion - using force to cause something to occur; "though pressed into rugby under compulsion I began to enjoy the game"; "they didn't have to use coercion" coercion causation, causing - the act of causing something to happen constructive eviction, eviction - action by a landlord that compels a tenant to leave the premises (as by rendering the premises unfit for occupancy); no physical expulsion or legal process is involved

compulsion

noun

1. urge, need, obsession, necessity, preoccupation, drive He felt a compulsion to talk about his ex-wife all the time.

2. force, pressure, obligation, constraint, urgency, coercion, duress, demand Students learn more when they are in classes out of choice rather than compulsion.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

compulsion

noun

Power used to overcome resistance:

coercion, constraint, duress, force, pressure, strength, violence.

Translations

إكْراه، إجْبار، ضَغْط عَلى

nátlak

tvang

Zwang

compulsion contrainte

kényszer

nauîung, òvingun

compulsivo costrizione obbligatorio

būtinaiprivalomaspriverstinai

piespiešana

pritisk

baskı zorlama

强迫

compulsion

[kəmˈpʌlʃən] N

1. (= urge) → compulsión f

2. (= force) under compulsion → a la fuerza, bajo coacción
you are under no compulsion → no tienes ninguna obligación

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

compulsion

[kəmˈpʌlʃ^ən] n

(= force) → contrainte f, force f
under compulsion → sous la contrainte

(= strong desire) → besoin m
to feel a compulsion to do sth → avoir la manie de faire qch

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

compulsion

n → Zwang m, → Druck m; (Psych) → innerer Zwang; under compulsion → unter Druck or Zwang; you are under no compulsion → Sie sind nicht gezwungen, niemand zwingt Sie

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

compulsion

[kəmˈpʌlʃ/ən] n

a. → costrizione f, pressione f
under compulsion → sotto costrizione, dietro or sotto pressione
he is under no compulsion (to do it) → nessuno lo costringe (a farlo)

b. → desiderio incontrollabile

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

compulsion

(kəmˈpalʃən) noun

compelling or being compelled. You are under no compulsion to go.

comˈpulsory adjective

which must be done or carried out. Is it compulsory for me to attend the class?; a compulsory examination.

comˈpulsorily adverb

com·pul·sion

n. compulsión.

compulsion

n compulsión f

References in classic literature ?

'Upon compulsion, sir,' interposed the locksmith, who felt that the tone in which this was said, conveyed the speaker's impression that he had ample excuse for yielding to the furious multitude who beset and hemmed him in, on every side, and among whom he stood, an old man, quite alone; 'upon compulsion, sir, I'll do nothing.'

View in context

The Russians, on the contrary, ought according to tactics to have attacked in mass, but in fact they split up into small units, because their spirit had so risen that separate individuals, without orders, dealt blows at the French without needing any compulsion to induce them to expose themselves to hardships and dangers.

View in context

The foregoing incident of the National Saloon I have given in order again to show the lure, or draw, or compulsion, toward John Barleycorn in society as at present organised with saloons on all the corners.

View in context

And it is like bending back a stiff spring: it is by compulsion that I do the slightest act not prompted by one thought; and by compulsion that I notice anything alive or dead, which is not associated with one universal idea.

View in context

But I confess that many of the socialistic views that I have come across seem to me to be tainted with ideas of authority, if not of actual compulsion. Of course, authority and compulsion are out of the question.

View in context

Perhaps the president of a corps notices that one of the membership who is no longer an exempt--that is a freshman-- has remained a sophomore some little time without volunteering to fight; some day, the president, instead of calling for volunteers, will APPOINT this sophomore to measure swords with a student of another corps; he is free to decline--everybody says so--there is no compulsion. This is all true--but I have not heard of any student who DID decline; to decline and still remain in the corps would make him unpleasantly conspicuous, and properly so, since he knew, when he joined, that his main business, as a member, would be to fight.

View in context

It is not long since it contained forty provinces; but is now not much bigger than all Spain, and consists but of five kingdoms and six provinces, of which part is entirely subject to the Emperor, and part only pays him some tribute, or acknowledgment of dependence, either voluntarily or by compulsion. Some of these are of very large extent: the kingdoms of Tigre, Bagameder, and Goiama are as big as Portugal, or bigger; Amhara and Damote are something less.

View in context

Then all was peace, all friendship, all concord; as yet the dull share of the crooked plough had not dared to rend and pierce the tender bowels of our first mother that without compulsion yielded from every portion of her broad fertile bosom all that could satisfy, sustain, and delight the children that then possessed her.

View in context

And the case must be very flagrant in which its fallacy could be detected with sufficient certainty to justify the harsh expedient of compulsion. It is easy to see that this problem alone, as often as it should occur, would open a wide field for the exercise of factious views, of partiality, and of oppression, in the majority that happened to prevail in the national council.

View in context

The same principle prevails also in the choice of their senate; the manner of electing which is favourable also to an oligarchy; for all are obliged to vote for those who are senators of the first class, afterwards they vote for the same number out of the second, and then out of the third; but this compulsion to vote at the election of senators does not extend to the third and fourth classes and the first and second class only are obliged to vote for the fourth.

View in context

Michael never liked these lessons, for, looking down upon Kwaque, he hated in any way to be under the black's compulsion. But all this was changed when Dag Daughtry surprised them at a singing lesson.

View in context

But for the urgency of conscience and the knowledge that I am before the bar of One who seeth not as man seeth, I should be under no compulsion to make the disclosure which has been my object in asking you to come here to-night.