What does “compel” mean?
- 1
verbto force someone to do something, or make it necessary
Bad weather compelled us to turn back.
Compel at a glance
- Part of speech
- verb
- CEFR level
- C1 (advanced)
- Pronunciation
- /kəmˈpɛl/ · kum-PEL
- Forms
- compelled, compelling
How to use “compel” correctly
“Compelling” usually means very convincing or interesting: “a compelling story”. Double the l in “compelled”.
Common phrases with “compel”
- feel compelled to
- be compelled to
- compelling evidence
- compelling argument
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Word family
- compelling
- compulsion
- compulsory
“compel” is on these word lists
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