Adjacent Words

Coercion definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COERCION, n. Restraint, check, particularly by law or authority; compulsion; force.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the act of compelling by force of authority
2: 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" [syn: compulsion, coercion]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 15th century the act, process, or power of coercing

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the act or process of coercing. 2 government by force. Derivatives: coercive adj. coercively adv. coerciveness n. Etymology: OF cohercion, -tion f. L coer(c)tio, coercitio -onis (as COERCE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Coercion Co*er"cion, n. [L. coercio, fr. coercere. See Coerce.] 1. The act or process of coercing. 2. (Law) The application to another of either physical or moral force. When the force is physical, and cannot be resisted, then the act produced by it is a nullity, so far as concerns the party coerced. When the force is moral, then the act, though voidable, is imputable to the party doing it, unless he be so paralyzed by terror as to act convulsively. At the same time coercion is not negatived by the fact of submission under force. ``Coactus volui'' (I consented under compulsion) is the condition of mind which, when there is volition forced by coercion, annuls the result of such coercion. --Wharton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Coercion is the act or process of persuading someone forcefully to do something that they do not want to do. It was vital that the elections should be free of coercion or intimidation.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Restraint, check, curb, repression. 2. Compulsion, constraint, force.

Moby Thesaurus

argumentum baculinum, compulsion, constraint, duress, high pressure, intimidation, menace, menacing, pressure, strong-arm tactics, the big stick, the bludgeon, the club, the jackboot, the mailed fist, the strong arm, the sword, threat, threatening, violence