Meaning & use
compelled
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“compelled” is a form of “compel”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
adjectiveafter a verb
Feeling that you must do something because of duty, pressure or a strong inner urge.
Grammar: Used after be or feel and followed by to: she felt compelled to speak.
Patterns
- feel compelled to do something
- be compelled to do something
After reading the report, I felt compelled to help.
He felt compelled to apologize in person.
Many viewers feel compelled to share the story with friends.
verbtransitiveformal
Past tense and past participle of compel: made to do something by force, law or necessity.
Grammar: Takes an object plus to: the rule compelled workers to wear helmets.
Patterns
- be compelled to do something
- compelled by something
Drivers were compelled to stop by the flooded road.
The company was compelled by law to publish its accounts.
Bad weather compelled the team to cancel the match.
Word forms
| base form | compel |
|---|---|
| third person singular | compels |
| -ing form | compelling |
Common combinations
- feel compelled to
- I felt compelled to check my phone again.
- be legally compelled
- Witnesses are legally compelled to attend.
- morally compelled
- She felt morally compelled to report the problem.
- compelled by circumstances
- They sold the farm, compelled by circumstances.
- strangely compelled
- He felt strangely compelled to open the old letter.
Synonyms and how they differ
- forced
- Forced suggests outside pressure and sometimes violence, while compelled can describe an inner pull.
- obliged
- Obliged is milder and points to duty or politeness, not a strong urge.
- driven
- Driven stresses an inner motivation or ambition, usually over a long period.
- bound
- Bound suggests a duty or promise that ties you, as in bound by law.
Opposites
Word family
- compel verb
- to force or strongly urge
- compelling adjective
- very convincing or hard to resist
- compulsion noun
- a strong urge to do something
- compulsory adjective
- required by a rule
Commonly confused: compelled or impelled?
compelled vs impelled
Impelled stresses being pushed forward by a feeling, while compelled stresses being forced by a duty or rule; the two overlap and are close in meaning.
Practice
After seeing the stranded hikers, the pilot felt ___ to land and help.
Choose one answer.
Feel compelled to is the fixed pattern. Compelling describes something convincing, and the others are the wrong parts of speech.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “compelled”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.