All 6 Uses of
compel
in
Atlas Shrugged
- One of them read: "I had intended to undertake it in two years, but the statement of the State Science Institute compels me to proceed at once.†
Chpt 1.7compels = forces; or (more rarely) convinces
- But the law compels you to volunteer a defense!†
Chpt 2.4 *
- With everybody going broke and the tax receipts falling, we might-fact being that we hold well over fifty per cent of the Taggart bonds-we might be compelled to call for the payment of railroad bonds within six months.†
Chpt 2.5compelled = forced; or (more rarely) convinced
- "Well, after all," said Philip, in the angry and cautious tone of a tentative threat, "I could have my friends assign me to a job here and compel you to accept it!"†
Chpt 3.5compel = force; or (more rarely) convince
- and he knew that he was afraid of this place, afraid to the death, that he dared not move without the protection and guidance of the man before himthen he looked at the tall, straight figure standing casually still, the figure with the unflinching eyes whose sight had cut through rock and flame to build this place-and then he knew how easily the man he was proposing to compel could let a single bucket of metal tilt over a second ahead of its time or let a single crane drop its load a foot short of its goal, and there would be nothing left of him, of Philip the claimantand his only protection lay in the fact that his mind would think of such actions, but the mind of Hank Rearden would not.†
Chpt 3.5
- Soybeans make an excellent substitute for bread, meat, cereals and coffee-and if all of us were compelled to adopt soybeans as our staple diet, it would solve the national food crisis and make it possible to feed more people.†
Chpt 3.5compelled = forced; or (more rarely) convinced
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.