Definition of coerce
Etymology
< Latin coercere ("to surround, encompass, restrain, control, curb") < co- ("together") + arcere ("to inclose, confine, keep off"); see arcade, arcane, ark.
Pronunciation
Verb
to coerce (third-person singular simple present coerces, present participle coercing, simple past and past participle coerced)
- To restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb.
- (transitive) to use force, threat, fraud, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against his will.
- (transitive) (computing) to force an attribute, normally of a data type, to take on the attribute of another data type.
Synonyms
Derived terms
References:
- Wiktionary. Published under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
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