Force Definition
force
See also Force, and forcé
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English
Wikipedia has an article on: Force (disambiguation)Pronunciation
- (RP) IPA: /fɔː(ɹ)s/, SAMPA: /fO:(r\)s/
- (GenAm) IPA: /fɔɹs/, /foʊɹs/, SAMPA: /fOr\s/, /fOUr\s/
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Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɔː(r)s
Etymology 1
Middle English force, fors, forse, from Old French force, from Late Latin fortia, from neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”).
Noun
force (countable and uncountable; plural forces)
Wikipedia has an article on: ForceWikipedia
- (countable) Anything that is able to make a big change in a person or thing.
- (countable, physics) A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body which is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
- (countable) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
- police force
- 2004 April 15, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, The Scotsman:
- For Lothian and Borders Police, the early-morning raid had come at the end one of biggest investigations carried out by the force, which had originally presented a dossier of evidence on the murder of Jodi Jones to the Edinburgh procurator-fiscal, William Gallagher, on 25 November last year.
- (uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.
- show of force
- (countable) A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person.
- (law) Legal validity.
- The law will come into force in January.
- (law) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
Usage notes
- Adjectives often applied to "force": military, cultural, economic, gravitational, electric, magnetic, strong, weak, positive, negative, attractive, repulsive, good, evil, dark, physical, muscular, spiritual, intellectual, mental, emotional, rotational, tremendous, huge.
Derived terms
Terms derived from "force"
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Translations
anything that is able to make a big change in person or thing
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Verb
force (third-person singular simple present forces, present participle forcing, simple past and past participle forced)
- (transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape. [from 14th c.]
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:
- He hath murthered that mylde withoute ony mercy – he forced hir by fylth of hymself, and so aftir slytte hir unto the navyll.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.1:
- a young woman not farre from mee had headlong cast her selfe out of a high window, with intent to kill herselfe, only to avoid the ravishment of a rascally-base souldier that lay in her house, who offered to force her [...].
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:
- (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To exert oneself, to do one's utmost. [from 14th c.]
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVIII:
- And I pray you for my sake to force yourselff there, that men may speke you worshyp.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVIII:
- (transitive) To compel (someone or something) to do something. [from 15th c.]
- 2011, Tim Webb & Fiona Harvey, The Guardian, 23 Mar 2011:
- Housebuilders had warned that the higher costs involved would have forced them to build fewer homes and priced many homebuyers out of the market.
- 2011, Tim Webb & Fiona Harvey, The Guardian, 23 Mar 2011:
- (transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of. [from 16th c.]
- 1603, John Florio, trans. Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I.40:
- Shall wee force the general law of nature, which in all living creatures under heaven is seene to tremble at paine?
- 1603, John Florio, trans. Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I.40:
- (transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb). [from 16th c.]
- 2007, The Guardian, 4 Nov 2007:
- In a groundbreaking move, the Pentagon is compensating servicemen seriously hurt when an American tank convoy forced them off the road.
- 2007, The Guardian, 4 Nov 2007:
- (transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force. [from 16th c.]
- 2009, "All things to Althingi", The Economist, 23 Jul 2009:
- The second problem is the economy, the shocking state of which has forced the decision to apply to the EU.
- 2009, "All things to Althingi", The Economist, 23 Jul 2009:
- (transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.). [from 17th c.]
- To force a lock.
- (transitive, baseball) To create an out by touching a base in advance of a runner who has no base to return to while in possession of a ball which has already touched the ground.
- Jones forced the runner at second by stepping on the bag.
Translations
compel (someone to do something)
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Derived terms
See also
- Imperial unit: foot pound
- metric unit: newton
- coerce: To control by force.
Etymology 2
From Old Norse fors (“waterfall”). Cognate with Swedish fors (“waterfall”)
Noun
force (plural forces)
Translations
waterfall — see waterfallStatistics
- Most common English words before 1923: appeared · spoke · strange · #463: force · character · taking · information
External links
- force in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- force in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
Anglo-Norman
Etymology
Latin fors
Pronunciation
- IPA: /fɔr.sə/
Noun
force f. (oblique plural forces, nominative singular force, nominative plural forces)
Descendants
French
Etymology
From Late Latin neuter plural fortia, from Latin adjective fortis. Compare Catalan and Portuguese força, Italian forza, Spanish fuerza.
Pronunciation
Noun
force f. (plural forces)
Synonyms
Derived terms
- à force
- à la force du poignet
- coup de force
- camisole de force
- de gré ou de force
- de force
- de vive force
- en force
- forcé
- force majeure
- force vive
- forces vives
- forcément
- forcer
- tour de force
Verb
force
- first-person singular present indicative of forcer
- third-person singular present indicative of forcer
- first-person singular present subjunctive of forcer
- third-person singular present subjunctive of forcer
- second-person singular imperative of forcer
Old French
Alternative forms
Etymology
Late Latin *fortia, Classical Latin fors
Pronunciation
- IPA: /fɔrsə/
Noun
force f. (oblique plural forces, nominative singular force, nominative plural forces)
Related terms
Portuguese
Verb
force
- First-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of verb forçar.
- Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você?) present subjunctive of verb forçar.
- First-person singular (eu) affirmative imperative of verb forçar.
- Third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of verb forçar.
- First-person singular (eu) negative imperative of verb forçar.
- Third-person singular (você) negative imperative of verb forçar.
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In physics, a force is any influence that causes an object to undergo a certain change, either concerning its movement, direction, or geometrical construction. In other words, a force is that which can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (which includes to begin moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate, or which can cause a flexible object to deform. Force can also be described by intuitive concepts such as a push or pull. A force has both magnitude and direction, making it a vector quantity.
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