Advertisement

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Origin and history of forced

forced(adj.)

"not spontaneous or voluntary, strained, unnatural," 1570s, past-participle adjective from force (v.). Meaning "effected by an unusual application of force" is from 1590s. Related: Forcedly. The flier's forced landing attested by 1917.

also from 1570s

Entries linking to forced

force(v.)

c. 1300, forcen, also forsen, "exert force upon (an adversary)," from Old French forcer "conquer by violence," from force "strength, power, compulsion" (see force (n.)). From early 14c. as "to violate (a woman), to rape." From c. 1400 as "compel by force, constrain (someone to do something)." Meaning "bring about by unusual effort" is from 1550s. Card-playing sense is from 1746 (whist). Related: Forced; forcing.

    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Trends of forced

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    doggerel
    1630s, "Any rhyming verse in which the meter is forced into metronomic regularity by the stressing of normally unstressed...syllables and in which rhyme is forced or banal" [Miller Williams, "Patterns of Poetry"]....
    pacify
    countries or regions, "to bring to a condition of calm, to restore peace to," late 15c., from the start with suggestions of forced...
    shake-down
    The meaning "forced contribution" (1902) is from the verbal phrase in a slang sense of "blackmail, extort" (1872)....
    syndicalism
    last, the strikes and other "direct action," which it has combined, have upset the industrial life of the country, and forced...
    robot
    ("Rossum's Universal Robots") by Karel Capek (1890-1938), from Czech robotnik "forced worker," from robota "forced labor,...
    blast
    The sense of "strong current of air forced into a furnace to accelerate combustion for iron-smelting" (1690s) led to blast...
    benevolence
    In English history, this was the name given to forced extra-legal loans or contributions to the crown, first so called 1473...
    press
    c. 1300, presse, "a crowd, throng, company; crowding and jostling of a throng; a massing together," from Old French presse (n.) "a throng, a crush, a crowd; wine or cheese press" (11c.), from Latin pressare (see press (v.1)). Late Old English had press in the sense of "clothes pr
    squeeze
    c. 1600, "press forcibly" (transitive), perhaps an alteration of quease (Middle English quisen), from Old English cwysan "to squeeze," a word of unknown origin, perhaps imitative (compare German quetschen "to squeeze"). It perhaps also has been altered by influence of many words
    toe
    Old English ta "toe" (plural tan), contraction of *tahe (Mercian tahæ), from Proto-Germanic *taihwō(n) (source also of Old Norse ta, Old Frisian tane, Middle Dutch te, Dutch teen (perhaps originally a plural), Old High German zecha, German Zehe "toe"). Perhaps originally meaning

    Share forced

    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Trending
    Dictionary entries near forced
    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.