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
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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
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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:
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
Seong-Hyon Lee, a visiting scholar at the Harvard University Asia Center, also said Beijing is shifting towards "underwriting regime durability" rather than seeking to coerce North Korea into denuclearisation.
From Barron's ● Jun. 7, 2026
It would be just as unethical for a therapist to use treatment to pressure someone into being LGBTQ+ as it is to use treatment to coerce someone out of being such an identity.
From Slate ● Mar. 11, 2026
He also believed they had tried to coerce him, and decided they should have to answer for it publicly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026
They could coerce some of us into fighting with misinformation, or by appealing to greed—any number of ways.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
“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
Regulators also say Amazon coerces sellers into signing up for FBA in order to reach customers on the Amazon store.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 9, 2023
Lawsuits also say the program unconstitutionally coerces drugmakers into selling their products at inadequate prices.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 30, 2023
Just do not be surprised when your sister-in-law ignores any handwritten invitations and coerces you into sending text reminders anyway.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 24, 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
The patients I know who contributed to the hospital to “honor” their doctor were certainly not coerced.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
His conviction relied on a coerced confession, he told Rebin Rahmani of the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, a nonprofit group based in Paris, in a phone call that Rahmani recorded.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
What will change is that Americans will no longer be coerced into sacrificing their First Amendment rights.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
It said that he was waiving his right to an attorney, and that he hadn’t been coerced.
From Slate ● Apr. 19, 2026
He said that he had told lots of people—from the D.A. on down—that he had been coerced to testify falsely against Walter.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
I wonder what he thinks might motivate people to serve, instead of coercing them, and he mentions raising salaries.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
“Detaining people and not giving them the chance to get out of detention is a way of coercing people to give up their claims.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2026
At times “strategic ambiguity” can be a useful tool for coercing foes to act in certain ways or even to step down from power.
From Slate ● Dec. 11, 2025
In the current situation, “the legal argument for broadly coercing a state into doing what you want isn’t really different,” Boushey said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2025
No, sir; and I do not mean the people of this country to be misled by this confusion of terms about coercing a state.
From The Life of Lyman Trumbull by Horace White
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
