1
as in drives
to set or keep in motion
gasoline impels a car's engine
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in compels
to cause (a person) to give in to pressure
I felt impelled to tell the truth, however painful it might be
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of impels
And so, our mission – grounded in both truth and love – impels us to discern the motives that shape events, and the shifts in thought that drive human progress through higher ideals of justice, mercy, and wisdom.
—
Christa Case Bryant, Christian Science Monitor, 3 Mar. 2025
Christa Case Bryant, Christian Science Monitor, 3 Mar. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impels
Verb
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Willy drives it onstage through a giant door at the start and ends his life therein.—
Chris Jones,
New York Daily News,
10 Apr. 2026
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Martinez is categorized as a super commuter, or someone who drives for 90 minutes or more to get to work.—
Kara St. Cyr,
CBS News,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But the implicit argument, that Colorado law effectively compels Jeffco to violate Title IX, is a major, predictable indictment of our legislature.—
Lisa Frizell,
Denver Post,
6 Apr. 2026
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This trust compels me to fight for the freedom Rutherford County read freely.—
Carly Tagen-Dye,
PEOPLE,
2 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The hormone insulin is a peptide that moves sugar from the bloodstream into cells; GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1, spurs the pancreas to release insulin and slows the passage of food through the gut.—
Dhruv Khullar,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
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In a city like Orlando, as across America, public life moves quickly.—
Case Thorp,
The Orlando Sentinel,
5 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Christopher McVey was sent off late against Real Salt Lake after a second yellow card, which rules him out for Saturday and forces a lineup shuffle.—
Eddie Brown,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
3 Apr. 2026
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Freshman Hannah Wells get the start for Texas and forces three quick groundouts.—
Thomas Jones,
Austin American Statesman,
3 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Motivated Mars activates your 6th House of Well-being as of today, motivating you to reconfigure routines and direct your formidable focus toward the tasks that truly count.—
Tarot.com,
New York Daily News,
9 Apr. 2026
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Miki, originally a bus driver, gradually discovers and activates the abilities within himself to build one of the largest and most feared mafia groups in the country.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
8 Apr. 2026
Verb
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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
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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
Verb
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Beijing is also advancing railgun technology, a type of electromagnetic weapon that propels projectiles along a pair of parallel rails at extreme speeds, while promising higher velocity and longer range than conventional guns, potentially transforming naval and land-based combat.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Apr. 2026
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In astrology, the sun represents our vitality, identity and the force that propels us forward in life.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
3 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The collective defense clause, if invoked by a member state, obligates all other members of the transatlantic alliance to treat an attack on one as an attack on all.—
Lucia I Suarez Sang,
CBS News,
31 Mar. 2026
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Europe’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) obligates foreign streaming services to invest a portion of their revenue into local productions, but leaves the modalities of this obligation to each individual country.—
Nick Vivarelli,
Variety,
27 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Impels.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impels. Accessed 10 Apr. 2026.
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