Coercion

Pronunciation

• IPA: /koʊˈɜrÊ’É™n/, /koʊˈɜrʃən/

Origin

From Old French cohercion, from Latin coercitiō ("magesterial coercion"), from coercere, past participle coercitus ("to restrain, coerce"), from cum ("with") + arceō ("to shut in, enclose"); see coerce.

Full definition of coercion

Noun

1. (not countable) Actual or threatened force for the purpose of compelling action by another person; the act of coercing.
2. (legal, not countable) Use of physical or moral force to compel a person to do something, or to abstain from doing something, thereby depriving that person of the exercise of free will.
3. (countable) A specific instance of coercing.
4. (computing, countable) Conversion of a value of one data type to a value of another data type.

Related terms

• coerce
• coercer
• coercible