compulsion
pronunciation
How to pronounce compulsion in British English:
UK [kəmˈpʌlʃn]
How to pronounce compulsion in American English:
US [kəmˈpʌlʃən]
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- Noun:
- an urge to do or say something that might be better left undone or unsaid
- an irrational motive for performing trivial or repetitive actions against your will
- using force to cause something
Word Origin
- compulsion (n.)
- early 15c., from Middle French compulsion, from Latin compulsionem (nominative compulsio) "a driving, urging," noun of action from past participle stem of compellere "compel" (see compel). Psychological sense is from 1909 in A.A. Brill's translation of Freud's "Selected Papers on Hysteria," where German Zwangsneurose is rendered as compulsion neurosis.
Example
- 1. How can compulsion serve as an ally ?
- 2. The future of environmentalism is in liberating humanity from the compulsion to consume .
- 3. Compulsion is the only way to overcome entrenched discrimination .
- 4. But there would be no compulsion .
- 5. In the world of compulsion and denial , no behaviour is innocent .