coercive force
Britishnoun
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.
Unlike ethics, law and policy are backed by the coercive force of the state.
From Slate • Apr. 17, 2019
High status is itself a powerful coercive force that can stifle resistance in a lower-status victim and so silence him or her.
From Salon • Nov. 8, 2016
In Sattouf’s memoir, his father’s decision to move the family to Syria has the coercive force of a kidnapping.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 19, 2015
“A police officer at any moment is outnumbered by members of the public,” she said, “so if we eliminate this implied notion of coercive force then we eliminate the difference between the public and police”.
From The Guardian • Aug. 5, 2015
Wherever there is a volition, there is this kind of liberty; for a volition is not, and cannot be, produced by any coercive force.
From An Examination of President Edwards' Inquiry into the Freedom of the Will by Bledsoe, Albert Taylor
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.
