coerce
Americanverb (used with object)
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coerces,
present (3rd person singular)
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coerced,
past participle, past
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coercing
present participle
-
to compel by force, intimidation, or authority, especially without regard for individual desire or volition.
They coerced him into signing the document.
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to bring about through the use of force or other forms of compulsion; exact.
to coerce obedience.
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to dominate or control, especially by exploiting fear, anxiety, etc..
The state is based on successfully coercing the individual.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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coercesimple
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coercessimple
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have coercedperfect
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has coercedperfect
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am coercingprogressive
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are coercingprogressive
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is coercingprogressive
-
have been coercingperfect progressive
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has been coercingperfect progressive
Past
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coercedsimple
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had coercedperfect
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was coercingprogressive
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were coercingprogressive
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had been coercingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of coerce
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Latin coercēre “to hold in, restrain,” equivalent to co- co- + -ercēre, combining form of arcēre “to keep in, keep away,” akin to arca ark
Explanation
You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can coerce — or pressure — someone to attend your office holiday party, but you can't make him have fun. If you're at a point where you feel like you need to coerce someone into doing something, it might be more civilized to just give up. To coerce is to manipulate, use aggressive arguments, pressure unfairly, or threaten — really, this isn't very civilized behavior, is it? Handy synonyms for this verb include force and pressure. In a gangster film, you might hear a character say he "put the squeeze" on someone — another way of saying he coerced them.
Vocabulary lists containing coerce
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Did your sister-in-law coerce or somehow pressure him into paying off her $50,000 debt?
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026
A fast, he insisted, was not blackmail but an act of suffering intended to awaken rather than coerce.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Vullo, in which the court held that the government cannot use informal tactics, like thinly-veiled threats of selective enforcement or demands for cooperation, to coerce private actors.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz quashed the “unlawful” subpoenas, ruling that “overwhelming evidence” suggested they “were not issued to investigate, but to harass, coerce, and retaliate.”
From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2026
Though the performance must be spectacular in order to coerce the best reactions.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Another federal law prohibits voter intimidation, with up to a yearlong prison sentence for anybody who intimidates, threatens, or coerces somebody else with the purpose of interfering with another person’s right to vote.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026
“We’re both familiar with what can happen and what has happened, when the state coerces people and restricts fundamental human rights, on a very personal level,” Howald said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2025
On top of that, Amazon coerces those third party sellers into signing up for Amazon’s own fulfillment and advertising services — leading to increased costs that then get passed on to customers, the FTC argues.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 2, 2023
Lawsuits also say the program unconstitutionally coerces drugmakers into selling their products at inadequate prices.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 30, 2023
She slips away, and I grit my teeth as Grandfather coerces me into a stilted discussion with the governor.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
Tribes along the coast who were coerced into building the missions, including the Gabrielino, have had an especially hard time gaining recognition.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
People in prison confess to crimes, regardless of innocence, for any manner of reasons: because they are coerced, because their memories are unclear, to curry favor, for attention.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
The paper says that the proposal's opponents argued that the bill's safeguards would not be enough to protect vulnerable people from being coerced.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
The patients I know who contributed to the hospital to “honor” their doctor were certainly not coerced.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
Week after week, aided or coerced by their parents, they came, and week after week Milton Stephanides excused himself to go up to his bedroom and play his clarinet out the window.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
While preparing for a rematch with Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao is suing a restaurant server and his lawyers for “inflicting reputational damage and coercing payment.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2026
Just a month earlier, however, the court unanimously reaffirmed that the First Amendment forbids the government from coercing companies into suppressing expression.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2025
Lawyers have accused it of coercing devotees, known colloquially as "Moonies" after its founder, to donate large sums of money.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2025
A sports coach at a Taiwanese university has issued a formal apology over a research project that allegedly involved her coercing students into giving blood, according to local media.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2025
To the Captain-General this seemed the proper occasion for some nice diplomacy, for coaxing with fair words instead of coercing with violence.
From The History of Cuba, vol. 3 by Willis Fletcher Johnson
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