Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Compelling |
CompellingAdjective1. Driving or forcing; "compelling ambition". 2. Tending to persuade by forcefulness of argument; "new and compelling evidence". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "compelling" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Compulsion | Adjective: compelling; Verb: coercive, coactive; inexorable; compulsory, compulsatory; obligatory, stringent, peremptory. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Compelling |
| English words defined with "compelling": accepted ♦ bruising ♦ coercion, Compulsatory ♦ pressing, process-server ♦ recognised, recognized ♦ urgent. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "compelling": GLYNN ♦ priority interrupt. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "compelling": Compulsatory. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I guess that's what makes you so gosh darn compelling. (Windrider; writing credit: Everett De Roche; Bonnie Harris) He's compelling himself to follow exactly the classic death pattern of the G'tach. (The Abominable Dr. Phibes; writing credit: James Whiton; William Goldstein) I, Misao Makimachi, see no compelling reason to give villians like you my name! (Rurouni Kenshin; writing credit: Johan Unenge; Mns Gahrton) | |
Clever | Life lesson: You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time. (references; author: unknown) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Aaron Hill | Reason gains all people by compelling none. |
Ansel Adams | Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Personal benefits of symptom reduction are well documented and compelling. (references) | |
Many compelling lines of evidence link blood cholesterol to coronary heart disease. (references) | ||
The benefits of screening are so compelling that universal screening should be provided. (references) | ||
Business | In practice importers provide the declaration without compelling technical basis, as a pure formality. (references) | |
In general, a majority of residential users still refrains from e-commerce activities due to security reasons and most of them do not see compelling reasons for buying online. (references) | ||
Italians place the automobile at the top of their wish list and consider it a "status symbol", but strangely enough spend less compared to other European car owners in car-care, maintenance and comfort -- approximately $500 a year. However, Italian legislation is also compelling car owners to consider safety and the adoption of quality components in order to pass the biennial car inspections. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Mauritius | The Supreme Court overturned this refusal, stating that the threats of defamation and disturbing the peace were not sufficiently compelling to prohibit the gathering. (references) |
South Africa | The prosecutor had applied in another country for a court order compelling news agencies to hand over the video without consulting the news agencies' lawyers about the tapes. (references) | |
Ghana | The NGO argued that the Government should enact legislation compelling all children to be immunized before it could legitimately force guardians to immunize their own children. (references) | |
Economic History | Australia | Unfortunately, the carriers have not been able to find compelling services to offer on customer cell phones, and uptake of WAP services has been slow. (references) |
Nepal | The pollution caused by diesel vehicles is compelling Nepal to explore alternatives and a recent decision by the Government of Nepal to reduce the customs duty to five percent for electric vehicle parts and ten percent for electric buses, cars, and vans (compared to 110 percent plus sales tax for diesel and gasoline powered vehicles) should stimulate demand for such equipment in the Kathmandu Valley. (references) | |
Human Rights | Armenia | The judge acting alone must find a compelling need for a wiretap before granting the agency permission to proceed. (references) |
Worker Rights | Malaysia | The Appeals Court ruled that compelling an employee to work for a new employer without offering the option to terminate the labor contract amounted to a form of forced labor. (references) |
Lesotho | A survey undertaken in March revealed that most factories compelled workers to work on Saturdays, which are considered legally to be days of rest; however, by year's end, the practice of compelling Saturday employment largely had ceased. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Mark Shields | We have to take a break now. Robert Novak and I will be back with White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card to ask if President Bush, the compelling commander in chief, is still dominant politically at home. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
James Madison | 1809-1817 | Such is the avowed purpose of a Government which is in the practice of naturalizing by thousands citizens of other countries, and not only of permitting but compelling them to fight its battles against their native country. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Compelling" is generally used as a lexical verb (-ing form) -- approximately 65.96% of the time. "Compelling" is used about 332 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 65.96% | 219 | 20,419 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 32.83% | 109 | 31,132 |
| Noun (singular) | 1.2% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 332 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "compelling": compelling desire. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "compelling": sleep-compelling. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
business compelling solution | 23 |
compelling | 5 |
compelling vision | 5 |
agency compelling marketing | 5 |
8 christ coming compelling reason soon very very | 3 |
compelling proposition value | 2 |
compelling evidence global uk warming | 2 |
compelling interest state | 2 |
compelling evidence global warming | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "compelling"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | imponues (commanding, dreadful, obtrusive, overbearing), detyrues (binding, coercive, compulsive, impellent). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مفروض على, قهري (coercive, compulsory, forced), خاضع ل. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | непреодолим (insuperable, insurmountable, invincible, irresistible, overmastering, overpowering, overwhelming, resistless, unconquerable), завладяващ (conquering, exciting, irresistible, obsessive), покоряващ (irresistible). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 强迫 (Compel, Compelled, Compulsion, forcible, forcibly, Forcing, Obtrude, Obtruded, Obtruding). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | pùsobivý (appealing, catchy, effective, forceful, forcible, imposing, impressive, operative, potential, reactive, telling, workable), pádný (cogent, convincing, damning, hefty, pointed, potent, satisfactory, strong, valid, weighty), nepřekonatelný (deep rooted, immovable, impassable, insuperable, insurmountable, irresistible, overwhelming, unbreakable, unequaled, unequalled, utter). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | tjenestefrihed uden loen af bydende noedvendige personlige aarsager (unpaid leave on compelling personal grounds), anankastisk beskæftigelsestrang (compelling urge of overactivity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | onbezoldigd verlof om dwingende redenen van persoonlijke aard (unpaid leave on compelling personal grounds). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | mukaansatempaava (captivating, gripping), mukaan (captivating, gripping). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | contraint (constrained), obligatoire (coercion, compulsory), irrésistible (cogent), forcé. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | zwingende (coercively, cogently, compulsively, imperatively), zwingend (bludgeoning, coercible, coercing, coercive, cogent, cogently, compellable, compellingly, compulsive, compulsively, conclusive, constraining, exigent, forcible, forcibly, forcing, imperative, mandatory, necessary, unassailable, urgent). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ακαταμάχητος (foursquare, irresistible). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | sürgető (imperative, importunate, pressing), parancsoló (assertiveness, authoritative, dictatorial, domineering, imperatival, imperative, imperatorial, imperious, magisterial), lenyűgöző (awe-inspiring, enthralling, grandiose, impressive), késztető (motivational), kényszerítő (coercive, imperative, imperatorial), impozáns (commanding, imposing, redoubtable, redoubted, stately), ellenállhatatlan (cogent, devastating, irresistible, overpowering, overwhelming, resistless). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | irresistibile (irresistible), impellente (impellent, impelling, stringent, urgent), avvincente (absorbing, charming, endearing, engaging, engrossingly, fascinating, riveting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 強迫 (using duress), 切実 (acute, earnest, pressing, serious, severe, urgent). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | きょうはく (coercion, menace, terrorism, threat, using duress), せつじつ (acute, earnest, pressing, serious, severe, urgent). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 강 (Coercive, Compulsion, Compulsory, constraint, CONSTRAINTS, forced, forcible, Forcing, mandatory). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | eignagh (cogent, obligatory), eginagh (compulsive; rapist, compulsory, needy, obligatory). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | tvingende, fengslende (gripping). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ompellingcay constrangedor. (various references) неотразимый (irresistible). (various references) nesavladiv (impregnable, indomitable, inexpugnable, insuperable, invincible), neodoljiv (irresistible, overpowering, overwhelming, resistless). (various references) irresistible (devastating, irresistible, killing, resistless). (various references) tvingande (cogent, exigent, forcing, imperative, irresistible, urgent). (various references) zorlayan (impellent), zorlayıcı (coercive, compulsive, compulsory, drastic, exigent, high pressure, insistent, stringent), saygı uyandıran, ilgi uyandıran. (various references) чарівний (admirable, adorable, alluring, amiable, appealing, basilisk, captivating, charming, darling, delicious, delightful, elfish, elvish, enchanted, enchanting, engaging, entrancing, fairy, fascinating, glamorous, glamourous, goluptious, ingratiating, lovely, magic, magical, orphean, pretty), нездоланний (formidable, insurmountable, irresistible, opposeless, overmastering, overpowering, overwhelming), непереборний (insuperable, opposeless, overmastering, overpowering, overwhelming, resistless), привабливий (alluring, amiable, appealing, appetible, appetizing, arresting, attractable, attractive, canny, captivating, catching, catchy, clean-cut, engaging, fetching, gash, likable, likeable, lovable, nice-looking, pleasing, rose colored, rose coloured, specious, well favored, well-favoured, winning, winsome). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "compelling": compellingly. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "compelling": uncompelling. (additional references) | |
| |
"Compelling" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Cameling, Comelin, compeling, compellng, complelling, complexing, Compulink. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "compelling" (pronounced kumpe"ling) |
| 5 | -p e" l i ng | dispelling, expelling, misspelling, propelling, rappelling, repelling, spelling. |
| 4 | -e" l i ng | Belling, dwelling, excelling, felling, foretelling, helling, Melling, outselling, quelling, rebelling, reselling, retelling, selling, shelling, smelling, Snelling, swelling, telling, welling, yelling. |
| 3 | -l i ng | ailing, ambling, angling, annealing, appalling, appealing, assailing, assembling, babbling, backpedaling, baffling, bailing, baling, balling, bankrolling, barreling, battling, beguiling, belittling, bicycling, billing, blackmailing, boggling, boiling, Bolling, bottling, bowling, brawling, bristling, broiling, bubbling, buckling, bugling, bumbling, bundling, bungling, burgling, burling, bustling, cackling, cajoling, calling, canceling, cancelling, Carling, ceiling, channeling, chilling, chortling, chronicling, chuckling, circling, coddling, commingling, compiling, concealing, consoling, controlling, cooling, corralling, counseling, countervailing, coupling, cowling, crackling, cradling, crawling, crippling, crumbling, cuddling, culling, curling, curtailing, cycling, dabbling, dangling, darling, dawdling, dazzling, dealing, decoupling, derailing, detailing, Dialing, disabling, disgruntling, dismantling, dissembling, distilling, doling, doubling, dribbling, drilling, drizzling, drooling, duckling, dueling, dulling, dumpling, dwindling, earthling, emailing, embezzling, empaneling, enabling, encircling, enrolling, entailing, entangling, entitling, equaling, extolling, failing, falling, feeling, fiddling, filing, filling, fizzling, flailing, fledgling, foaling, foiling, fondling, fooling, forestalling, fouling, foundling, freewheeling, fueling, fuelling, fulfilling, fumbling, funneling, galling, gambling, giggling, gobbling, grappling, Grayling, grilling, groundling, groveling, growling, grueling, grumbling, gurgling, guzzling, haggling, hailing, handling, hassling, hauling, healing, heckling, hilling, hobbling, holing, howling, huddling, humbling, hurdling, hurling, hurtling, hustling, idling, imperiling, inhaling, initialing, inkling, installing, instilling, intermingling, jailing, jiggling, jostling, juggling, Keeling, killing, kindling, kneeling, labeling, leveling, lolling, Lulling, mailing, mangling, Marling, marshaling, meddling, middling, milling, mingling, mishandling, mislabeling, modeling, mothballing, mottling, muddling, mulling, mumbling, muscling, nailing, needling, nestling, nibbling, nonruling, oiling, overbilling, overhauling, overkilling, overruling, overselling, paddling, paneling, panhandling, paralleling, parboiling, parceling, paroling, patrolling, pearling, pedaling, peddling, peeling, pickling, piddling, piling, Pilling, Pindling, poling, polling, pooling, prevailing, profiling, prowling, pulling, pummeling, puzzling, quadrupling, quarreling, quibbling, quilling, Quisling, railing, rambling, rankling, rattling, raveling, recalling, reconciling, recycling, redoubling, reeling, refueling, regaling, rekindling, remodeling, repealing, rescheduling, resembling, reshuffling, retailing, retooling, revealing, reveling, ridiculing, Riesling, rifling, rilling, rippling, rivaling, roiling, rolling, rototilling, ruffling, ruling, rumbling, rustling, saddling, sailing, sampling, Sandling, sapling, scaling, scheduling, Schilling, schooling, scowling, scrambling, scribbling, scuttling, sealing, seedling, Seeling, settling, shilling, shoveling, shriveling, shuffling, shuttling, sibling, signaling, signalling, singling, sizzling, skilling, smiling, smuggling, snarling, snowballing, sparkling, Sparling, spilling, spiraling, spiralling, spoiling, sprawling, sprinkling, squabbling, squealing, stalling, stapling, starling, startling, stealing, stenciling, sterling, stifling, stockpiling, stonewalling, storytelling, straddling, strangling, strickling, stripling, strolling, struggling, stumbling, styling, suckling, surveilling, swashbuckling, swilling, swindling, swirling, swiveling, tabling, tackling, tailing, tangling, thrilling, throttling, Tilling, tingling, tinkling, toddling, toggling, toiling, tolling, tooling, toppling, totaling, totalling, toweling, trailing, trampling, traveling, travelling, trembling, trickling, trifling, trilling, tripling, trolling, troubling, tumbling, tunneling, twiddling, twinkling, twirling, unappealing, unavailing, unbundling, underling, underselling, unfailing, unfeeling, unfurling, unraveling, unsettling, unsmiling, untangling, unveiling, unwilling, veiling, waffling, waggling, wailing, walling, warbling, weakling, whaling, wheeling, whirling, whistling, whittling, wholesaling, wiggling, wiling, willing, wobbling, wrangling, wrestling, wrinkling, yearling, yodeling. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-g-i-l-l-m-n-o-p" | |
-2 letters: clomping, comingle, compline. | |
-3 letters: celling, cleping, compile, comping, complin, eloping, genomic, melling, pinocle, polemic, polling. | |
-4 letters: cineol, coigne, collie, coming, compel, coping, eloign, enolic, epigon, epilog, gnomic, impone, income, legion, lomein, loping, megilp, micell, mingle, moline, mollie, moping, niello, ocelli, oilmen, pencil, pigeon, pinole, police, poling, pollen. | |
-5 letters: celli, cello, celom, clime, cline, cling. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-g-i-l-l-m-n-o-p" | |
+2 letters: compellingly, uncompelling. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Familiar 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Quotations: Spoken 8. Quotations: Speeches | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
