coerced

American

[koh-ursd] / koʊˈɜrsd /

adjective

forced or compelled through intimidation or authority, especially without regard for individual volition.

A judge decided that key evidence, obtained from a coerced 14-year-old boy, was unreliable.

verb

the simple past tense and past participle of coerce.

Other Word Forms

uncoerced

adjective

Etymology

Origin of coerced

coerce ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

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.

The scandal saw the mothers, including many who were teenagers, coerced into giving up their children, with social, institutional and family pressures used to persuade them that adoption was their only option.

From Barron's • Jul. 2, 2026

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

It said that he was waiving his right to an attorney, and that he hadn’t been coerced.

From Slate • Apr. 19, 2026

Dr. Norman Poythress from Taylor Hardin explained that Myers had told him that “his prior ‘confessions’ are bogus and were coerced out of him by the police through keeping him physically and psychologically isolated.”

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023