compulsion

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French compulsion, from Late Latin compulsiō, from Latin compellere (“to compel, coerce”); see compel.

noun

1. An irrational need or irresistible urge to perform some action, often despite negative consequences.
   During the basketball game, I had a sudden compulsion to have a smoke.
   It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […]. 2013-06-07, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36
2. The use of authority, influence, or other power to force (compel) a person or persons to act.
   From the opening of the City & South London Railway independent electric locomotives were used under compulsion of the Board of Trade. 1941 May, “Jubilee of the City Tube”, in Railway Magazine, page 223
   But Treaty translator and Ottawa leader Andrew Blackbird described the Treaty as made “not with the free will of the Indians, but by compulsion.” January 17 2016, “Wealthy cabals run America”, in Al Jazeera America, retrieved 2016-01-18
3. The lawful use of violence (i.e. by the administration).