All 3 Uses of
compel
in
Great Expectations
- At such times as when your sister is on the Ram-page, Pip," Joe sank his voice to a whisper and glanced at the door, "candor compels fur to admit that she is a Buster."†
p. 50.6compels = forces; or (more rarely) convinces
- I had pretended with myself that there was nothing of this taint in the arrangement; but when I went up to my little room on this last night, I felt compelled to admit that it might be so, and had an impulse upon me to go down again and entreat Joe to walk with me in the morning.†
p. 167.9compelled = forced; or (more rarely) convinced
- "O dear me!" said I, as if I found myself compelled to give up Biddy in despair.†
p. 303.3 *
Definition:
to force someone to do something
or more rarely:
to convince someone to do something
or more rarely:
to convince someone to do something
Most typically, compel describes an external influence forcing someone to do something, but it can also describe being driven by an internal desire.