compulsion

3 definitions found

compulsion - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Compulsion \Com*pul"sion\, n. [L. compulsio. See Compel.]
     The act of compelling, or the state of being compelled; the
     act of driving or urging by force or by physical or moral
     constraint; subjection to force.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would
           give no man a reason upon compulsion.    --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           With what compulsion and laborious flight
           We sunk thus low.                        --Milton.
  
     Syn: See Constraint.
          [1913 Webster]

compulsion - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  compulsion
      n 1: an urge to do or say something that might be better left
           undone or unsaid; "he felt a compulsion to babble on about
           the accident" [syn: compulsion, irresistible impulse]
      2: an irrational motive for performing trivial or repetitive
         actions, even against your will; "her compulsion to wash her
         hands repeatedly" [syn: compulsion, obsession]
      3: using force to cause something to occur; "though pressed into
         rugby under compulsion I began to enjoy the game"; "they
         didn't have to use coercion" [syn: compulsion, coercion]

compulsion - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  153 Moby Thesaurus words for "compulsion":
     abstraction, abulia, alienation, amperage, anxiety,
     anxiety equivalent, anxiety state, apathy, armipotence, authority,
     beef, black power, brute force, catatonic stupor, charge, charisma,
     clout, coercion, cogence, cogency, complex, compulsoriness,
     constraint, dejection, depression, detachment, dint, drive,
     driving, driving force, duress, effect, effectiveness,
     effectuality, elation, emotionalism, energy, euphoria, exigency,
     fascination, fixation, fixed idea, flower power, folie du doute,
     force, force majeure, forcefulness, full blast, full force,
     hang-up, hypercathexis, hypochondria, hysteria, hysterics,
     idee fixe, impellent, impelling, impelling force, impetus, impulse,
     impulsion, incentive, incitement, indifference, influence,
     insensibility, irresistible force, irresistible impulse, lethargy,
     main force, main strength, mana, mandatedness, mandatoriness,
     mania, melancholia, mental distress, might, might and main,
     mightiness, moment, momentum, monomania, morbid drive,
     motive power, moxie, muscle power, necessariness, necessitation,
     necessitude, necessity, need, obligation, obligatoriness,
     obligement, obsession, obsessive compulsion,
     pathological indecisiveness, pinch, pizzazz, poop, possession,
     potence, potency, potentiality, power, power pack, power structure,
     power struggle, powerfulness, preoccupation, prepossession,
     prepotency, press, pressing, pressure, productiveness,
     productivity, propulsion, psychalgia, psychomotor disturbance,
     puissance, pull, punch, push, rash impulse, ruling passion, sinew,
     steam, strength, stress, strong arm, stupor, superiority,
     superpower, thrust, tic, twitching, unresponsiveness, urge,
     urgency, validity, vehemence, vigor, vim, violence, virility,
     virtue, virulence, vitality, wattage, weight, withdrawal