coercive
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of coercive
Explanation
If you use coercive measures to get people to join your club, it means that you intimidate or force people to make them feel like they have to join. If you use threats to get what you want from other people, your methods can be described as coercive. It can take nothing more than a strong sense of authority to come across as coercive, or the intimidation can take the form of physical threats. When you're coercive, you're demanding obedience without much concern for what the people you coerce need or want. The Latin root is coercere, which means "to control or restrain."
Vocabulary lists containing coercive
Grendel
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Content Summary 1.3: Origins of Complex Urban Societies in the Ancient World
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Content Summary 3.7: Postclassical Americas
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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.
Beyond outright deception, the FDA’s framework can embolden coercive partners.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026
We know what works: family court reform that centers safety over shared parenting presumptions; mandatory training on coercive control; limits on custody for abusive partners; strict, enforceable firearm removal; and sustained investment in survivor support.
From Slate • Apr. 25, 2026
It is a structural change in how coercive bargaining works.
From Barron's • Apr. 18, 2026
"Given the intensity of the coercive displacement that we are seeing, how should we prepare, collectively as the international community, for a new addition to the list of occupied territories?"
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
Franklin’s ancestors may have emigrated from Europe to escape oppressive rules, but colonial societies were still vastly more coercive and class- ridden than indigenous villages.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
