compulsion

American  

[kuhm-puhl-shuhn] / kəmˈpʌl ʃən /

noun

• compulsions
  plural

1. 

   the act of compelling; constraint; coercion.

2. the state or condition of being compelled.

3. Psychology. a strong, usually irresistible impulse to perform an act, especially one that is irrational or contrary to one's will.

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compulsion British  

/ kəmˈpʌlʃən /

noun

1. the act of compelling or the state of being compelled

2. something that compels

3. psychiatry an inner drive that causes a person to perform actions, often of a trivial and repetitive nature, against his or her will See also obsession

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compulsion Cultural  

1. In psychology, an internal force that leads persons to act against their will. A “compulsive” act cannot be controlled: “Smith was a compulsive gambler.”

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncompulsion
  noun
• precompulsion
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• compulsions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of compulsion

1375–1425; late Middle English (< Anglo-French ) < Late Latin compulsiōn- (stem of compulsiō ), equivalent to Latin compuls ( us ), past participle of compellere to compel ( com- com- + pul- variant stem + -sus past participle suffix) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

Let's say you have a secret. You've promised not to tell, but there's something forcing you to call a friend and spill the beans. This force is compulsion, that urge to do something even though you know you shouldn't. If you go back to the Latin, you find compulsus, the past participle of the verb compellere, "to compel." You can see the connection with our word compulsion, which means "something compelling." The word gained a more psychological meaning in 1909 in a translation of Freud’s studies, suggesting a type of neurosis that impels a person to do things in an obsessive manner.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

compulsion compulsions

None of these people is real, but the irritations they represent – NIMBYism, narcissism and the compulsion to destroy others to build ourselves up – are quite familiar.

From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026

But now, he is trying a 12-session course of private therapy to try to curb this compulsion, which he believes is driven by loneliness.

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026

For that reason, Iran’s officers may feel no compulsion to kowtow to Beijing.

From Slate ● May 7, 2026

Yet his compulsion to embrace the world’s majesty in the manner of an illustrated weekly or a Victorian diorama conflicted with the project of capturing the poetry of untamed America.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026

They are interesting, but not as fascinating as the central mystery, which is that we do it at all, and that we do it under such compulsion.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Like Maddie, she can easily cloak compulsions under the blanket of modern body positivity.

From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026

“RachelOrmont” is cruel, clever and audacious to a fault, but when Rachel breaks free of her tech prison, Vack’s film transforms into a grim and deeply necessary indictment of our shared digital compulsions.

From Salon ● Dec. 5, 2025

Early versions of aversion therapy were first trialled on animals and then on humans for conditions such as phobias, compulsions, and addictions, for example, using mild shocks to reduce nail-biting or gambling.

From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2025

As the title suggests, the series challenges viewers to see how we grapple with our demons and our worst compulsions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2025

They were racked with guilt for being alive, racked with pain in their heads and fear of ghosts, racked with nightmares and strange compulsions, punishments for being alive when the others were dead.

From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart

Related Words

• coercion
• obsession
• preoccupation
• urgency