compulsion

1 an urge to do or say something that might be better left undone or unsaid [syn: irresistible impulse]

2 an irrational motive for performing trivial or repetitive actions against your will [syn: obsession]

3 using force to cause something; "though pressed into rugby under compulsion I began to enjoy the game"; "they didn`t have to use coercion" [syn: coercion]

English

Etymology

From late compulsiō stemming from the Latin compellare - to compel / coerce

Pronunciation

Noun

compulsion

1. An irrational need to perform some action, often despite negative consequences.

   During the basketball game, I had a sudden compulsion to smoke; however, I did not have any cigarettes with me.

2. The use of authority, influence, or other power to force (compel) a person or persons to act.
3. The lawful use of violence (i.e. by the administration).

Compulsion can refer to, among other things:

• Compulsion (book), a 1956 novel, by American author Meyer Levin, about the Leopold and Loeb case.
• Compulsion (novel), a 2001 novel, by British author Shaun Hutson
• Compulsion (film), a 1959 film based on Levin's book.
• Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, a mental disorder
• Compulsion (band), a punk group active in the mid-'90s
• Compulsory education
• Compulsory voting
• Compulsion, a 1989 song originally written and recorded by Joe Crow and released as a single by Martin Gore on his Counterfeit e.p. album in 1989.

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