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What is "forcible"

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forcible
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
forcible
adjective
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Any attempt at forcible conquest - by the word or by the sword - could easily have been neutralised or repelled.
▪ Elizabeth watched with fascinated horror the forcible feeding practised on the poor children.
▪ It was not licence he wanted; alas! not even freedom - his goal was the forcible enlightenment of mankind ....
▪ Juveniles 15 and older committing rape or forcible assault are named prominently in offenses automatically transferred to adult court.
▪ Maud talked with a mixture of pedantry and horse sense that impressed him as singular and forcible.
▪ Should the doctor and nurses apply forcible feeding?
▪ There was no indication of forcible entry.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Forcible

Forcible \For"ci*ble\, a. [Cf. OF. forcible forcible, forceable that may be forced.]

  1. Possessing force; characterized by force, efficiency, or energy; powerful; efficacious; impressive; influential.

    How forcible are right words!
    --Job. vi. 2?.

    Sweet smells are most forcible in dry substances, when broken.
    --Bacon.

    But I have reasons strong and forcible.
    --Shak.

    That punishment which hath been sometimes forcible to bridle sin.
    --Hooker.

    He is at once elegant and sublime, forcible and ornamented.
    --Lowth (Transl. )

  2. Violent; impetuous.

    Like mingled streams, more forcible when joined.
    --Prior.

  3. Using force against opposition or resistance; obtained by compulsion; effected by force; as, forcible entry or abduction.

    In embraces of King James . . . forcible and unjust.
    --Swift.

    Forcible entry and detainer (Law), the entering upon and taking and withholding of land and tenements by actual force and violence, and with a strong hand, to the hindrance of the person having the right to enter.

    Syn: Violent; powerful; strong; energetic; mighty; potent; weighty; impressive; cogent; influential.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
forcible

early 15c., "powerful, violent; done by force," from Old French forcible "strong, powerful, mighty," from forcier "conquer by violence" (see force (v.)). From 1550s as "possessing force." Related: Forcibly.\n\n\n

Wiktionary
forcible

a. 1 Able to be forced. 2 Having force. 3 Done by force. ''Oxford American Dictionaries'' (MacBook widget) 4 Having a powerful effect; telling

WordNet
forcible

adj. impelled by physical force especially against resistance; "forcible entry"; "a real cop would get physical"; "strong-arm tactics" [syn: physical, strong-arm]

Usage examples of "forcible".

Terry the Tramp was one of four Angels arrested for forcible rape, which carries a penalty of one to fifty years in the penitentiary.

Judson was the author of those eloquent and forcible appeals to the government, which prepared them by degrees for submission to terms of peace, never expected by any who knew the haughtiness and inflexible pride of the Burman court.

But the Fenian General refused to comply with his advice, and expressed his contempt for the President in language more forcible and profane than polite.

I studied directness of expression by a frequent intercourse with men of business, and examined, with the nicest urgency, the particular characteristics of those of my own profession who were most remarkable for their plain, forcible speaking.

But it was in vain that I spoke in the most forcible manner, in vain that I went to work myself, and shewed that safety was only to be insured by active means, I could not prevent the priest declaring that I was an Atheist, and he managed to rouse against me the anger of the greatest part of the crew.

My dear friend, you argue in a very forcible way, and the very reverend rector must by this time be satisfied that the inmates of our dormitory are more learned than he is himself.

I jumped out of the gondola, and found myself on the very spot where three years before I had taught Razetta such a forcible lesson.

You must confess, however, that you had no right to make a forcible entry into a room in a house which does not belong to you.

The rubric says in the most forcible manner that the owner of the blade, 'in vaginam', shall be one.

I am well quit of them" "You must confess, however, that you had no right to make a forcible entry into a room in a house which does not belong to you.

No doubt the arrangement was made without difficulty, for our hymen took place the same evening, but no sooner was the operation completed than the poor lamb fled away in hot haste, which made me suspect that her father had used rather forcible persuasion with her.

They constitute in their own way an indictment against slavery quite as forcible as that of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," but an indictment that rests chiefly upon the blighting influence of the institution of slavery upon agriculture, manufactures, and the general industrial and social order.

Lindau is right in characterizing some of the motives that led men to the cannon's mouth as no higher than business motives, and his comparison is the most forcible that he could have used.

I was horrified as I drew up the indictment which seemed to me to contain charges of burglary at common law, house breaking under the Forcible Entries Act, contravening the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries Act and Serving Alcohol on Unlicensed Premises.

Note: Yet Augustine, with laudable inconsistency, disapproved of the forcible demolition of the temples.