compulsion

See also: compulsión

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French compulsion, from Late Latin compulsiō, from Latin compellere (“to compel, coerce”); see compel.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpʌlʃən/, [kʰəɱˈpʰʌlʃən] ~ [kʰɱ̩ˈpʰʌlʃn̩]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɐlʃən/, [kʰəɱˈpʰɐ̞lʃən] ~ [kʰɱ̩ˈpʰɐ̞lʃn̩]
• (Northern England, Midlands, Ireland) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpʊlʃən/, [kʰəɱˈpʰʊlʃən] ~ [kʰɱ̩ˈpʰʊlʃn̩]
• (Wales) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpəlʃən/, [kʰəɱˈpʰəlʃən] ~ [kʰɱ̩ˈpʰəlʃn̩]
• Hyphenation: com‧pul‧sion

Noun

compulsion (countable and uncountable, plural compulsions)

1. An irrational need or irresistible urge to perform some action, often despite negative consequences.

   During the basketball game, I had a sudden compulsion to have a smoke.

   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].

2. The use of authority, influence, or other power to force (compel) a person or persons to act.
   • 1941 May, “Jubilee of the City Tube”, in Railway Magazine, page 223:

     From the opening of the City & South London Railway independent electric locomotives were used under compulsion of the Board of Trade.

   • 2016 January 17, “Wealthy cabals run America”, in Al Jazeera America‎^[1], archived from the original on 17 June 2025:

     But Treaty translator and Ottawa leader Andrew Blackbird described the Treaty as made “not with the free will of the Indians, but by compulsion.”

3. The lawful use of violence (i.e. by the administration).

Derived terms

• compulsional
• compulsionary
• compulsion loop
• compulsion neurosis
• noncompulsion

Related terms

• compulsive
• compulsory

Translations

irrational need to perform some action

• Bulgarian: порив (bg) (poriv)
• Catalan: compulsió f
• Czech: nutkání (cs) n, (nutkavá) potřeba (cs) f
• Dutch: dwang (nl), drang (nl)
• Finnish: pakko (fi), pakkotoiminto
• German: Zwang (de) m, Zwangneurose f (psychology)
• Hungarian: kényszer (hu), késztetés (hu)
• Irish: éigeantas m
• Portuguese: compulsão (pt) f
• Romanian: constrângere (ro) f
• Russian: (необъясни́мый) позы́в m ((neobʺjasnímyj) pozýv), (иррациона́льное) жела́ние n ((irracionálʹnoje) želánije), поры́в (ru) m (porýv)
• Spanish: compulsión f
• Swedish: tvång (sv) c, tvångsneuros c

use of power to force a person to act

• Bulgarian: принуда (bg) (prinuda)
• Czech: nucení n, nátlak (cs) m
• Dutch: dwang (nl) c
• Finnish: pakottaminen (fi)
• Galician: prema (gl)
• Georgian: იძულება (iʒuleba)
• German: Zwang (de) m
• Hebrew: כְּפִיָּה (he) f (k'fiyá), אֹנֶס (he) m (ónes)
• Hungarian: kényszer (hu), kényszerítés (hu), erőszak (hu)
• Icelandic: nauðung f
• Irish: iallach m
• Latin: coactus m
• Māori: uruhanga
• Marathi: सक्ती f (saktī)
• Portuguese: compulsão (pt) f
• Russian: принужде́ние (ru) n (prinuždénije)
• Spanish: coacción (es) f, coerción (es) f
• Swedish: tvång (sv) c
• Uzbek: majburlik

lawful use of violence

• Bulgarian: принуда (bg) (prinuda)
• Finnish: pakkokeinot (fi) pl
• Russian: принужде́ние (ru) n (prinuždénije)
• Spanish: coacción (es) f, coerción (es) f

Further reading

• “compulsion”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “compulsion”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “compulsion”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin compulsiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.pyl.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

compulsion f (plural compulsions)

1. compulsion

Related terms

• compulsif

Further reading

• “compulsion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012