Synonyms of forced

forced 1 of 2

adjective

ˈfȯrst 

1

as in required

forcing one's compliance or participation by or as if by law

forced payment of membership dues

Synonyms & Similar Words

• required
• compulsory
• incumbent
• mandatory
• necessary
• needed
• urgent
• obligatory
• involuntary
• imperative
• demanded
• enforced
• nonelective
• requisite
• insistent
• persistent
• peremptory
• pressing
• essential
• indispensable
• all-important
• coercive

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• voluntary
• optional
• elective
• unnecessary
• discretionary
• unwanted
• chosen
• unimportant
• insignificant
• unneeded
• dispensable
• inconsequential
• nonessential

2

as in strained

lacking in natural or spontaneous quality

wasn't thrilled with the suggestion and so responded with a forced smile

Synonyms & Similar Words

• strained
• mock
• affected
• unnatural
• false
• fake
• simulated
• assumed
• contrived
• exaggerated
• mechanical
• artificial
• pretended
• pseudo
• feigned
• plastic
• bogus
• spurious
• phony
• sham
• theatrical
• cute
• factitious
• manufactured
• automatic
• labored
• calculated
• deliberate
• empty
• hollow
• pat
• canned
• unreal
• stiff
• put-on
• hypocritical
• unrealistic
• formal
• fabricated
• concocted
• conscious
• insincere
• conventional
• cultivated
• wooden
• facile
• rigid
• melodramatic
• studied
• unauthentic
• hokey
• impersonal
• unctuous
• inflexible
• mealy
• histrionic
• stylized
• premeditated
• mincing
• overrefined
• two-faced
• left-handed
• genteel
• mealymouthed
• overacted
• simpering
• overdone
• artful
• cutesy
• double-dealing
• goody-goody

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• unaffected
• spontaneous
• right
• natural
• real
• genuine
• bona fide
• true
• realistic
• easy
• unforced
• artless
• authentic
• honest
• sincere
• smooth
• unfeigned
• ingenuous
• uncontrived
• unconscious
• effortless
• impromptu
• instinctive
• impulsive
• extemporaneous
• unpretending
• unprompted
• unrehearsed
• unstudied

3

as in unwilling

not made or done willingly or by choice

participation in the program was forced

Synonyms & Similar Words

• unwilling
• coerced
• accidental
• spontaneous
• unintended
• involuntary
• unintentional
• will-less
• automatic
• impulsive
• unplanned
• instinctive
• unconscious
• inadvertent
• unpremeditated
• unprompted
• unwitting
• unknowing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• willing
• voluntary
• deliberate
• intentional
• unforced
• conscious
• planned
• willful
• uncoerced
• advised
• knowing
• considered
• purposeful
• premeditated
• freewill
• volitional
• premeditative
• prepense
• self-imposed
• self-inflicted

forced

2 of 2

verb

past tense of force

1

as in compelled

to cause (a person) to give in to pressure

the public outcry from the scandal forced the mayor to resign

road construction forced them to take an alternate route

Synonyms & Similar Words

• compelled
• coerced
• obliged
• obligated
• pressured
• drove
• constrained
• impelled
• pressed
• dragooned
• blackmailed
• intimidated
• made
• impressed
• bullied
• sandbagged
• muscled
• threatened
• blackjacked
• browbeat
• dragged
• hectored
• cowed
• bulldozed
• twisted one's arm
• terrorized
• shamed
• badgered
• menaced
• harassed
• hounded
• high-pressured

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• let
• allowed
• permitted
• moved
• induced
• convinced
• argued
• satisfied
• won (over)
• persuaded
• talked (into)
• prevailed (on or upon)

2

as in violated

to engage in sexual activity and especially intercourse with a person unwilling or unable to give consent

was accused of forcing a woman

Synonyms & Similar Words

• violated
• raped
• assaulted
• ravished
• date raped
• molested
• gang raped
• deflowered
• pawed
• defiled

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of forced

Adjective

Mapping today’s red-blue conflict on the Jamestown-Plymouth antinomy of four centuries ago can’t help seeming extremely forced. — James Traub, The Atlantic, 28 June 2026

The references to the Cure, New Wave, and Eighties bands never feel forced or overdone or too stuck in the past. — Angie Martoccio, Rolling Stone, 12 June 2026

Verb

The eastern United States endured an unbearably hot early July that forced communities to cancel Independence Day celebrations and disrupted the country’s 250th anniversary. — Michael Phillis, Chicago Tribune, 25 July 2026

Chris Dowling’s film is earnest in its attempt to extract specifically Christian life lessons from a familiar tale of manchildren forced into growing up, and goes pretty light on the Bible-bashing relative to others in its cinematic church. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 25 July 2026