Crossword Dictionary
coerce
coerce, coerced, coerces, coercing, uncoerced - v
to compel by force or threat
synonyms
blackjack, compel, constrain, dragoon, drive, force, impel, impress, make, muscle, obligate, oblige, press, pressure, sandbag
in a sentence
A confession was coerced from the suspect by police.
He was coerced into signing the document
etymology
mid-15c., cohercen, "restrain or constrain by force of law or authority," from Old French cohercier, from Latin coercere "to control, restrain, shut up together," from assimilated form of com- "together" (see co-) + arcere "to enclose, confine, contain, ward off," from PIE *ark- "to hold, contain, guard" (see arcane). The unetymological -h- was perhaps by influence of cohere. Related: Coerced; coercing. No record of the word between late 15c. and mid-17c.; its reappearance 1650s is perhaps a back-formation from coercion.