Compel

How to spell compel

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce compel

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does compel mean?

1. verbTo force or strongly oblige someone to do something, or to bring about a result by pressure.

Compel in a sentence

• A court order can compel the company to release its records.

• Nothing in the contract should compel you to work unpaid overtime.

Where does compel come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This verb comes from the Latin compellere, formed from com-, an intensifying prefix derived from cum meaning 'together' or 'thoroughly', and pellere, the verb 'to drive' or 'to push'. The literal sense was to drive someone or something forcibly, as a herdsman drives cattle, and that physical idea of pressure softened into the modern meaning of forcing a person to act. English took the word in during the late 1300s through Old French, and it has kept the single 'l' of the Latin stem even though the related noun 'compulsion' takes a different shape. The same pellere root drives a whole family of English words, including propel, expel, repel and dispel, all of which carry that buried idea of pushing or driving. Remembering that family helps with the spelling, since each one ends in a single '-pel'.

How the word is built

• com- (intensive, from cum: together/thoroughly)
• pel (drive, from Latin pellere)