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
• cute
• theatrical
• factitious
• manufactured
• labored
• automatic
• calculated
• deliberate
• hollow
• empty
• pat
• canned
• unreal
• put-on
• stiff
• hypocritical
• unrealistic
• fabricated
• formal
• concocted
• conscious
• insincere
• conventional
• cultivated
• wooden
• facile
• melodramatic
• rigid
• 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

Some Tibetan activists say the new law represents more forced cultural assimilation and extended control over ethnic minorities. — ABC News, 4 Aug. 2026

In the early 1930s, the Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty wrote stories denying the famine that Joseph Stalin’s forced-collectivization policies were causing in Ukraine and mocked journalists who reported the truth. — James Kirchick, The Atlantic, 29 July 2026

Verb

Since the start of the 2025 season, New York has forced a league-low six turnovers in 20 games. — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 3 Oct. 2026

But a steady enrollment decline and projections of fewer students in the future forced the district to take action. — Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 3 Oct. 2026