to compel to take food, especially by means of a tube inserted into the throat.
They force-fed the prisoners in the hunger strike.
to compel to absorb or assimilate.
The recruits were force-fed a military attitude.
to force (a person or animal) to eat or swallow food
to force (someone) to receive opinions, propaganda, etc
First recorded in 1915–20
First recorded in 1905–10
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Acknowledging Jackson’s potential, coaches “tried to force feed him a little bit when we could,” Grinch said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2023
Limiting Patterson is hard, though, as the Falcons continue to force feed their breakout playmaker with so many touches that he’s tied for the sixth-most touchdowns from scrimmage.
From New York Times ● Dec. 16, 2021
Fangio said he’s certain his fiery first-round draft pick will use the letdown as kindling for a prosperous career, but he’s not going to force feed him the ball Sunday.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 31, 2020
Yeast also needs to consume sugar gradually—a production plant can’t force feed the cells at a faster clip.
From Slate ● Apr. 15, 2020
“You’ll have to force feed her—strong soup and eggs and cod liver oil.”
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
“Gone are the days whereby you can force-feed me only American content,” Abudu said.
From New York Times ● Sep. 23, 2021
Still, watching the International Olympic Committee put the Games on a fork and force-feed them to the resistant toddler that was Japan, well, it drove home the point about who’s actually in power here.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 8, 2021
I text back "I'm really sorry I tried to force-feed you Weetabix".
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2020
Deborah Frances-White’s screenplay relies on the recurrent mention of Mary’s multiple identities to force-feed these platitudes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2019
At the other end of the room, Leo tried to force-feed Percy some ambrosia, though Percy was still pretty much out of it.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
McDonald, who wrote the bestseller, “A Colossal Failure of Common Sense,” said tech representation in the S&P 500 is so high that retail investors are being force-fed the sector.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026
We, the fans, are the people who have been force-fed mistake after mistake.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026
They’re not given tools for critical thinking, but force-fed ready-made schemes for perceiving the world.
From Slate ● Oct. 18, 2025
When the synthetic compound was force-fed to rats at doses of 1 gram per kilogram of body weight for two years, the animals developed kidney cancer and other forms of renal disease.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2025
So he left and wandered, delighting in the freedom of Northern Italy, where he could ruminate on matters remote from the subjects he had been force-fed in his highly disciplined Prussian schoolroom.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Today, producers are concentrated in the eastern provinces of Shandong and Anhui, where farmers churn out thousands of tons of foie gras by force-feeding ducks and geese to enlarge their livers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
The primary means by which Meta has encouraged adoption of its A.I. can be generously described as digital force-feeding.
From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2025
An Instagram post by Navalny about his hunger strike ordeal employed the biting tone to which his followers were accustomed, describing how a prison official “detailed the joys of force-feeding to me.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
Chin delves into racism, gay rights and other social justice issues, but not by force-feeding them.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 17, 2023
This poster from, the National Women's Social and Political Union in England shows the force-feeding of a British suffragette.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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.
