Adjacent Words

Compelling definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COMPELLING, ppr. Driving by force; constraining; obliging.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: driving or forcing; "compelling ambition"
2: tending to persuade by forcefulness of argument; "new and compelling evidence"

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 1606 that compels: as a. forceful <a compelling personality> b. demanding attention <for compelling reasons> c. convincing <no compelling evidence> • compellingly adverb

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Compel Com*pel", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Compelled; p. pr. & vb. n Compelling.] [L. compellere, compulsum, to drive together, to compel, urge; com- + pellere to drive: cf. OF. compellir. See Pulse.] 1. To drive or urge with force, or irresistibly; to force; to constrain; to oblige; to necessitate, either by physical or moral force. Wolsey . . . compelled the people to pay up the whole subsidy at once. --Hallam. And they compel one Simon . . . to bear his cross. --Mark xv. 21. 2. To take by force or violence; to seize; to exact; to extort. [R.] Commissions, which compel from each The sixth part of his substance. --Shak. 3. To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate. Easy sleep their weary limbs compelled. --Dryden. I compel all creatures to my will. --Tennyson. 4. To gather or unite in a crowd or company. [A Latinism] ``In one troop compelled.'' --Dryden. 5. To call forth; to summon. [Obs.] --Chapman. She had this knight from far compelled. --Spenser. Syn: To force; constrain; oblige; necessitate; coerce. See Coerce.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. A compelling argument or reason is one that convinces you that something is true or that something should be done. Factual and forensic evidence makes a suicide verdict the most compelling answer to the mystery of his death... ADJ: usu ADJ n 2. If you describe something such as a film or book, or someone's appearance, as compelling, you mean you want to keep looking at it or reading it because you find it so interesting. ...a frighteningly violent yet compelling film... ADJ

Moby Thesaurus

actuating, acute, animating, causal, causative, clamorous, coactive, compulsive, compulsory, constraining, critical, crucial, crying, decretal, decretive, decretory, dictating, directive, driving, exigent, gripping, high-pressure, high-priority, holding, impelling, imperative, imperious, impulsive, inducive, insistent, instant, instructive, irresistible, jussive, mandating, motivating, motivational, motive, moving, obligating, obsessing, obsessional, obsessive, peremptory, pivotal, possessing, preceptive, preoccupying, prescriptive, pressing, restraining, urgent