[fawrs, fohrs]
Law. unlawful violence threatened or committed against persons or property.
mental or moral strength: force of character.
Often, forces. the military or fighting strength, especially of a nation.
intensity or strength of effect: the force of her acting.
the intensity of such an influence. Symbol: F, f
any influence or agency analogous to physical force: social forces.
binding power, as of a contract.
Baseball. force play.
value; significance; meaning.
verb (used with object), forced, forcing.
to bring about or effect by force.
to use force upon.
to rape.
to cause (a base runner or run) to score, as by walking a batter with the bases full (often followed by in ).
to compel a player to play (a particular card).
Archaic. to give force to; strengthen; reinforce.
verb (used without object), forced, forcing.
to make one's way by force.
in force,

1250–1300; (noun) Middle English < Middle French < Vulgar Latin *fortia, derivative of Latin fortis strong; (v.) Middle English forcen < Anglo-French, Old French forcer, derivative of the noun

forceable, adjective
forceless, adjective
forcer, noun
forcingly, adverb
interforce, noun
overforce, noun
overforce, verb, overforced, overforcing.
unforceable, adjective
unforcing, adjective

coerce, compel, constrain, force, oblige (see synonym study at oblige).

3. vigor. See strength. 4. compulsion, constraint. 6. efficacy, effectiveness, cogency, potency, validity. 18. coerce. 19. impel. 25. overcome; violate, ravish, rape.

3. weakness. 6. impotence. Unabridged
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World English Dictionary
force1 (fɔːs)
1.  strength or energy; might; power: the force of the blow; a gale of great force
2.  exertion or the use of exertion against a person or thing that resists; coercion
3.  physics
 a.  a dynamic influence that changes a body from a state of rest to one of motion or changes its rate of motion. The magnitude of the force is equal to the product of the mass of the body and its acceleration
 b.  F a static influence that produces an elastic strain in a body or system or bears weight
4.  physics any operating influence that produces or tends to produce a change in a physical quantity: electromotive force; coercive force
5.  a.  intellectual, social, political, or moral influence or strength: the force of his argument; the forces of evil
 b.  a person or thing with such influence: he was a force in the land
6.  vehemence or intensity: he spoke with great force
7.  a group of persons organized for military or police functions: armed forces
8.  informal (sometimes capital) the force the police force
9.  a group of persons organized for particular duties or tasks: a workforce
10.  criminal law violence unlawfully committed or threatened
11.  philosophy, logic speech act illocution See perlocution that which an expression is normally used to achieve
12.  in force
 a.  (of a law) having legal validity or binding effect
 b.  in great strength or numbers
13.  join forces to combine strengths, efforts, etc
14.  to compel or cause (a person, group, etc) to do something through effort, superior strength, etc; coerce
15.  to acquire, secure, or produce through effort, superior strength, etc: to force a confession
16.  to propel or drive despite resistance: to force a nail into wood
17.  to break down or open (a lock, safe, door, etc)
18.  to impose or inflict: he forced his views on them
19.  to cause (plants or farm animals) to grow or fatten artificially at an increased rate
20.  to strain or exert to the utmost: to force the voice
21.  to rape; ravish
22.  cards
 a.  to compel (a player) to trump in order to take a trick
 b.  to compel a player by the lead of a particular suit to play (a certain card)
 c.  (in bridge) to induce (a bid) from one's partner by bidding in a certain way
23.  force a smile to make oneself smile
24.  force down to compel an aircraft to land
25.  force the pace to adopt a high speed or rate of procedure
[C13: from Old French, from Vulgar Latin fortia (unattested), from Latin fortis strong]

force2 (fɔːs)
(in northern England) a waterfall
[C17: from Old Norse fors]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Word Origin & History

c.1300, from O.Fr. force, from L.L. fortia, from neut. pl. of L. fortis "strong" (see fort). Meaning "body of armed men, army" first recorded late 14c. The verb is first attested early 14c.; its original sense was "to ravish" (a woman). Related: Forced; forcing.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

force (fôrs)

  1. The capacity to do work or cause physical change; energy, strength, or active power.

  2. A vector quantity that tends to produce an acceleration of a body in the direction of its application.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
force   (fôrs)  Pronunciation Key 
  1. Any of various factors that cause a body to change its speed, direction, or shape. force is a vector quantity, having both magnitude and direction. Contributions of force from different sources can be summed to give the net force at any given point.

  2. Any of the four natural phenomena involving the interaction between particles of matter. From the strongest to the weakest, the four forces are the strong nuclear force, the electromagnetic force, the weak nuclear force, and gravity.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

force definition

In physics, something that causes a change in the motion of an object. The modern definition of force (an object's mass multiplied by its acceleration) was given by Isaac Newton in Newton's laws of motion. The most familiar unit of force is the pound. (See mechanics.)

Note: Gravity, and therefore weight, is a kind of force.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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