impels

verb

present tense third-person singular of impel
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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impels
  1. drives
  2. compels
  3. moves
  4. forces
  5. activates
  6. coerces
  7. propels
  8. obligates
Verb
  • As any storyteller knows, tension and contrast is what drives audience interest.
    — Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Normally, this camera records everyone who drives down this street.
    — Meg Anderson, NPR, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of drives
Verb
  • Washington also opposed another streaming regulation, known as Bill 109, passed in Quebec last December, which compels streaming platforms to prioritize French-language content.
    — Lex Harvey, CNN Money, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Frank’s ruling keeps the proposal to raise the homestead exemption up to $250,000 for Florida property owners on the ballot, but compels Attorney General James Uthmeier to rewrite parts of the plan.
    — Romy Ellenbogen Herald, Miami Herald, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of compels
Verb
  • Trainers then lead participants in a 45-minute full-body workout before the class moves into another room fashioned as a recovery space with art and quiet music.
    — Sneha Dhandapani, CNN Money, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Interestingly, the researchers also found that the three-dimensional arrangement or atomic orientation of the material could create different ray patterns, giving us more control over how heat moves through the material.
    — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of moves
Verb
  • Iranian officials dismiss the campaign as familiar punishment, while analysts warn decades of sanctions show pressure alone rarely forces Tehran to yield and may instead harden positions on all sides.
    — Farnoush Amiri, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Investors Make Your Financials Non-Negotiable Nothing forces financial discipline like a quarterly investor update.
    — Lien De Pau, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of forces
Verb
  • The result is a drug delivery system that activates only when needed, avoiding the risk of long-term administration of needlessly high doses.
    — Mike McRae August 19, New Atlas, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Whether positive or challenging, everyone will see it while the Scorpio moon activates Jupiter.
    — USA TODAY, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of activates
Verb
  • 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
Definition of coerces
Verb
  • More importantly, part of what propels the narrative in the book is Bret being the only one of his friends to see a dark side to Robert.
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 13 Aug. 2026
  • In fact, sometimes the name is what propels us toward development in the first place.
    — Chris Morocco, Bon Appetit Magazine, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of propels
Verb
  • Zeus’s Law obligates Telemachus and Odysseus’s wife Penelope to host the suitors who hope to marry her in Odysseus’s absence.
    — Natasha O'Neill, Vanity Fair, 16 July 2026
  • The Montreux Convention obligates Turkey to allow commercial ships freedom of passage, but allows the country to charge for some specific things, including sanitary, pilotage, towage and lighthouse services.
    — Joanne Stocker, CBS News, 1 July 2026
Definition of obligates

Browse Nearby Words

impelling
impels
impend
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Impels.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impels. Accessed 26 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of devolve

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Why do we say 'break a leg'?

16 Glee-ridden Words from Schitt's Creek
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
alt-684346df967d5
Add A Letter Quiz Pick the letter that goes in the same spot in fou...
See All