compel

Etymology

From Middle English compellen, borrowed from Middle French compellir, from Latin compellere, itself from com- (“together”) + pellere (“to drive”). Displaced native Old English nīedan.

verb

1. (transitive, archaic, literally) To drive together, round up
2. (transitive) To overpower; to subdue.
   She had one of those perfect faces, which irresistibly compel the soul of a man. 1917, Upton Sinclair, chapter 16, in King Coal
3. (transitive) To force, constrain or coerce.
   Logic compels the wise, while fools feel compelled by emotions.
   And then she giggles, inordinately pleased by her own cleverness. 2020, N. K. Jemisin, The City We Became, Orbit, page 173
   Sellafield compels this kind of gaze into the abyss of deep time because it is a place where multiple time spans – some fleeting, some cosmic – drift in and out of view. December 15 2022, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian
4. (transitive) To exact, extort, (make) produce by force.
   The Queen has nothing but the power to execute the laws, to adjust grievances and to compel order. 1912, L. Frank Baum, chapter 14, in Sky Island
5. (obsolete) To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.
6. (obsolete) To gather or unite in a crowd or company.
7. (obsolete) To call forth; to summon.