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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impels
Verb
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Over half of the generation says hard work, not luck, drives success.—
Dave Smith,
Fortune,
11 Sep. 2025 -
Security leaders have long viewed data as a strategic asset that drives insights, innovation and market advantage.—
Asaf Kochan,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Yet these productions are increasingly designed around an ethos of visual-over-depth that compels us to immediately document and post each scene.—
David Hochman,
Forbes.com,
14 Sep. 2025
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One way lawsuits can generate this pressure is through the discovery process, which compels companies to turn over internal documents, and could shed insight into what executives knew about safety risks or marketing harms.—
Beatrice Nolan,
Fortune,
14 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray has confirmed plans to pursue the death penalty, meaning Robinson will remain in custody without bail as the case moves toward trial.—
Amanda Castro
Hannah Parry
Joshua Rhett Miller,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Sep. 2025
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Conventional engines burn fuel in a steady process, where the flame front (the area at which combustion occurs) moves smoothly through a propellant mixture to produce continuous thrust.—
Josh Dinner,
Space.com,
16 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Daniels steps up, but Wyatt is right there and forces Daniels to cut back right into Sorrell and Brooks, who split the sack for a loss of 2 yards.—
Matt Schneidman,
New York Times,
13 Sep. 2025
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Employers counter that the cost of providing what unions want adversely affects their competitiveness in other states and nations and forces them to raise prices, reduce employment or even leave California to remain solvent.—
Dan Walters,
Mercury News,
13 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The system, created by Eshel Wasim and Dharsan Srinivasan, uses AI and sensors to detect when a crash is imminent and activates automatically if the plane is below 3,000 feet.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
16 Sep. 2025
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Neuroscience confirms that a rival’s failure actually activates the ventral striatum, the brain’s pleasure center, rivaling the thrill of a team’s success.—
Richard Menger MD MPA,
Forbes.com,
16 Sep. 2025
Verb
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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
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The pic centers on Ali (Ekin Koç), a university professor who is haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother and coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance.—
Patrick Hipes,
Deadline,
26 Aug. 2025
Verb
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White Out possesses the quest element that propels many a recovery memoir—except that in Clune’s case, the quest for sobriety is until the end consistently subordinated to the quest to score more drugs.—
Scott Stossel,
The Atlantic,
9 Sep. 2025
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Each sperm is streamlined for speed, with a tail that propels it forward and a head that carries genetic material.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The site of the meeting is complicated as Putin faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court that obligates the 125 countries that are party to the court to arrest the Russian leader and transfer him to The Hague for trial.—
Elizabeth Robinson,
NBC news,
20 Aug. 2025
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The Finding, issued in 2009, legally obligates the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.—
Ken Silverstein,
Forbes.com,
7 Aug. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Impels.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impels. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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