Compulsion

How to spell compulsion

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce compulsion

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does compulsion mean?

1. nounA strong, often irresistible urge to behave in a certain way, especially against one's better judgement.
2. nounThe act of forcing someone to do something, or the state of being forced.

Compulsion in a sentence

• She felt a sudden compulsion to check the locks again before leaving.

• The contract was signed freely and not under any compulsion.

• The therapist helped him understand the compulsion behind his constant cleaning.

• There is no legal compulsion to attend the optional training session.

Where does compulsion come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin compulsio, a noun built on the verb compellere, meaning 'to drive together' or 'to force'. That verb joined com-, an intensifying prefix, with pellere, which literally meant 'to drive, push, or beat'. The same pellere lies behind a whole family of English words such as 'expel' (drive out), 'repel' (drive back), and 'propel' (drive forward), all of which keep the idea of forceful pushing. English took compulsion through Old French in the late 1300s, at first for the sense of being forced by an outside power, and only later for the inner, irresistible urge studied by psychology. The spelling trap lives in that -sion ending: because the Latin root is the past-participle stem pulsus (driven), the word takes -s- where many similar words take -t-, so it is compulsion, never 'compultion'.

How the word is built

• com- (together, intensive)
• puls (driven, from Latin pellere 'to drive, push')
• -ion (noun of action)