To force or compel someone to do something; to drive or urge with force (archaic or literary usage).
From Latin 'compellere' (com- 'together' + pellere 'to drive'), meaning to drive together or force. This represents the root verb from which 'compulsion' and 'compulsive' derive.
Latin 'pellere' gives us 'expel,' 'repel,' 'propel,' and 'compel'—a whole family of motion verbs, all hiding the same Latin root that means 'push or drive.'
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