as in compels
to cause (a person) to give in to pressure
was coerced into signing the document
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Recent Examples of coerces
However, the rotation of this filament clearly dominates how the galaxies within it spin, perhaps by funneling hydrogen gas along the dark-matter filament and onto the galaxies in a way that coerces their spin while providing further fuel for star formation.
—
Keith Cooper, Space.com, 4 Dec. 2025
Haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, Ali, a university professor, coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 14 Nov. 2025
While China often threatens and coerces other countries, such as in disputes with South Korea and Australia, its actions are often triggered by events that China feels directly threaten its core interests.
—David C. Kang, Foreign Affairs, 19 Sep. 2025
Compulsory heterosexuality is a theoretical framework coined by lesbian scholar Adrienne Rich in 1980 to describe how heterosexuality as an institution compels and coerces female sexuality for patriarchal purposes.
—Quispe López, Them., 27 Aug. 2025
The Fate of the Furious (2017) The first film in the franchise since Tokyo Drift not to feature Walker, the eighth movie sees Charlize Theron as a cyberterrorist named Cipher who coerces Dom into working for her and turns him against his team.
—Adam England, People.com, 18 Aug. 2025
Among the arguments that the government has advanced is that Ticketmaster coerces venues by conditioning access to artists on picking the company as the ticketer for the event.
—Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Keith Cooper, Space.com, 4 Dec. 2025
Haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, Ali, a university professor, coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 14 Nov. 2025
While China often threatens and coerces other countries, such as in disputes with South Korea and Australia, its actions are often triggered by events that China feels directly threaten its core interests.
—David C. Kang, Foreign Affairs, 19 Sep. 2025
Compulsory heterosexuality is a theoretical framework coined by lesbian scholar Adrienne Rich in 1980 to describe how heterosexuality as an institution compels and coerces female sexuality for patriarchal purposes.
—Quispe López, Them., 27 Aug. 2025
The Fate of the Furious (2017) The first film in the franchise since Tokyo Drift not to feature Walker, the eighth movie sees Charlize Theron as a cyberterrorist named Cipher who coerces Dom into working for her and turns him against his team.
—Adam England, People.com, 18 Aug. 2025
Among the arguments that the government has advanced is that Ticketmaster coerces venues by conditioning access to artists on picking the company as the ticketer for the event.
—Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for coerces
Verb
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The New York Times is seeking a new order that compels Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s team to rescind a set of press access restrictions that a federal judge ruled unconstitutional last week.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
24 Mar. 2026
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Even so, each glimpse of what lies beyond Earth compels us to search farther.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
23 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The owners will be pushing for a salary cap, and the players for some sort of mechanism that forces the bottom-end teams to spend more, like a salary floor.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
28 Mar. 2026
-
When the 25-day storage wall forces a pipeline to stop, the system begins to degrade immediately.—
Siddharth Misra,
Fortune,
28 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The terms of the deal between property owners and the government obliges these landlords to keep rents affordable for their occupants for decades, generally restricting rent to about 30% of tenants’ income.—
Brian Y. An,
The Conversation,
12 Mar. 2026
-
But no character in any Broadway musical of recent vintage is designed to steal scenes like Aunt Debra, and Emily Koch obliges with a bold, brassy portrayal that proves a key catalyst for the engaging spirit of this marvelous production.—
Rob Hubbard,
Twin Cities,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
The registry obligates legitimate telemarketers to stop calling numbers listed on it.—
Dante Motley,
Austin American Statesman,
13 Mar. 2026
-
In prior administrations, including during my time in the Obama administration, such leverage ran into statutory guardrails under the Taiwan Relations Act, which obligates the United States to provide Taiwan defensive capabilities.—
Dewardric L. McNeal,
CNBC,
13 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Coerces.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coerces. Accessed 1 Apr. 2026.
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