force


Definition: Meaning of, force in English to English dictionary.

Pronunciation: / fɔːs /

  • noun
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Word Forms:
Singular Plural
force forces
  1. military [countable usually plural] a group of people who have been trained to do military work for a government or other organization
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  2. military the forces British English the army, navy, and AIR FORCE
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  3. military nuclear/conventional forces NUCLEAR weapons or ordinary weapons
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  4. military action [uncountable] military action used as a way of achieving your aims
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  5. violence [uncountable] violent physical action used to get what you want
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  6. physical power [uncountable] the amount of physical power with which something moves or hits another thing [↪  strength]
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  7. natural power [uncountable and countable] a natural power or event
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  8. organized group [countable usually singular] a group of people who have been trained and organized to do a particular job
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  9. strong influence [countable] something or someone who is powerful and has a lot of influence on the way things happen
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  10. powerful effect [uncountable] the powerful effect that something has on you
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  11. join/combine forces (with somebody/something) to work together so that you can deal with a problem, be more powerful etc
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  12. in force if a law, rule etc is in force, it already exists
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  13. in force in a large group, especially in order to protest about something [=  in large numbers]
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  14. come into force/bring something into force if a new law, rule, change etc comes or is brought into force, it starts to exist
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  15. by/through/out of force of habit because you have always done a particular thing and it is difficult to change
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  16. by/through force of circumstance(s) British English if something happens by force of circumstance, events outside your control make it happen
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  17. wind force 8/9/10 etc a unit for measuring the strength of the wind
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  18. wind gale/hurricane force wind extremely strong wind that does a lot of damage
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  19. police the force a word meaning the POLICE FORCE, used especially by police officers
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  20. the forces of good/evil etc literary people or things that increase the amount of good or bad in the world
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  • verb
  • synonym
  • antonym
Word Forms:
Prsesent Past Past Participle
force forced forced
Present Participle Third Person Singular
forcing forces
[transitive]
  1. make somebody do something to make someone do something they do not want to do [↪  persuade]
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  2. make somebody/something move [always + adverb/preposition] to make someone or something move in a particular direction or into a different position, especially through or using great strength [=  push]
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  3. force your way through/into etc something also force your way in/out/past etc to push very hard in order to get somewhere
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  4. make something happen to make something happen or change, especially more quickly than planned or expected
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  5. force a door/lock/window to open a door etc using physical strength, often causing damage
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  6. force the issue to do something that makes it necessary for someone to make decisions or take action, instead of waiting to see what happens
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  7. force somebody's hand to make someone do something unwillingly or earlier than they had intended
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  8. force a smile/laugh etc to make yourself smile, laugh etc even though you feel upset or annoyed
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force used in phrases

  • Air Force (noun)
    1. the airforce of the United States of America; the agency that defends the United States through control and exploitation of air and space
  • Air Force ISR (noun)
    1. an agency focused on ensuring that the United States military attains information superiority; operates worldwide ground sites and an array of airborne reconnaissance and surveillance platforms
  • Air Force Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (noun)
    1. an agency focused on ensuring that the United States military attains information superiority; operates worldwide ground sites and an array of airborne reconnaissance and surveillance platforms
  • Air Force One
    1. the name of the plane that the US President uses
  • Air Force Research Laboratory (noun)
    1. a United States Air Force defence laboratory responsible for discovering and developing and integrating fighting technologies for aerospace forces
  • Air Force Space Command (noun)
    1. a command of the United States Air Force that is responsible for defending the United States through its space and intercontinental ballistic missile operations
  • Catholic Reaction Force (noun)
    1. a radical terrorist group dedicated to the removal of British forces from Northern Ireland and the unification of Ireland
  • Coriolis force (noun)
    1. aeroplane or projectile physics a force due to the earth's rotation; acts on a body in motion in a rotating reference frame; in a rotating frame of reference Newton's second law of motion can be made to apply if in addition to the real forces acting on a body a Coriolis force and a centrifugal force are introduced
  • Delta Force
    1. a special group of soldiers which is part of the US Army, and is specially trained to do secret and dangerous work, especially fighting TERRORIST s
  • Force 17 (noun)
    1. formed in 1972 as a personal security force for Arafat and other PLO leaders; became one of PLO's elite units; has built an extensive infrastructure of terrorist cells and weapon depots in Europe while attacking Israeli targets
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force used in phrasal verbs

  • force back (phrasal verb)
    1. if you force back tears, you try very hard not to cry
  • force down (phrasal verb)
    1. to make something become lower
    2. to eat or drink something even though you do not want to
  • force on/upon (phrasal verb)
    1. force something on/upon someone to make someone accept something that they do not want
  • force out of (phrasal verb)
    1. force something out of someone to force someone to tell you something
  • force through (phrasal verb)
    1. to do something so that a proposal is accepted or an issue is dealt with quickly
  • force up (phrasal verb)
    1. to make something increase
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