Other forms: compelling, compelled, compels
To compel is to leave somebody no choice but to do it. Compel them to act, compelled by law, feel compelled.
It means removing the option rather than persuading — a court can compel a witness, and circumstances compel a decision. Feel compelled describes an inner pressure that amounts to the same thing. Note compelling, which has drifted to mean gripping — a compelling story, compelling evidence — and is far commoner than the verb. Note also compulsion, compulsory.
1verbcompelTo leave somebody no choice but to do it.
“The storm compelled us to turn back before we reached the summit.”
compel is a forcing.
Also accepted in games: force
Latin compellere is com plus pellere, to drive. Expel, repel, propel and pulse come from the same driving, and compel displaced the Old English niedan.
Middle English
compellen
English, today
compel
Built from
From Middle English compellen. From Middle English compellen, borrowed from Middle French compellir, from Latin compello, itself from com- (“together”) + pellere (“to drive”). Displaced native nīedan.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA