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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Compulsion \Com*pul"sion\, noun [L. compulsio. See {Compel}.] The act of compelling, or the state of being compelled; the act of driving or urging by force or by physical or moral constraint; subjection to force.
If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. --Shak.
With what compulsion and laborious flight We sunk thus low. --Milton.
Syn: See {Constraint}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
compulsion
noun
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}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
153 Moby Thesaurus words for "compulsion": abstraction, abulia, alienation, amperage, anxiety, anxiety equivalent, anxiety state, apathy, armipotence, authority, beef, black power, brute force, catatonic stupor, charge, charisma, clout, coercion, cogence, cogency, complex, compulsoriness, constraint, dejection, depression, detachment, dint, drive, driving, driving force, duress, effect, effectiveness, effectuality, elation, emotionalism, energy, euphoria, exigency, fascination, fixation, fixed idea, flower power, folie du doute, force, force majeure, forcefulness, full blast, full force, hang-up, hypercathexis, hypochondria, hysteria, hysterics, idee fixe, impellent, impelling, impelling force, impetus, impulse, impulsion, incentive, incitement, indifference, influence, insensibility, irresistible force, irresistible impulse, lethargy, main force, main strength, mana, mandatedness, mandatoriness, mania, melancholia, mental distress, might, might and main, mightiness, moment, momentum, monomania, morbid drive, motive power, moxie, muscle power, necessariness, necessitation, necessitude, necessity, need, obligation, obligatoriness, obligement, obsession, obsessive compulsion, pathological indecisiveness, pinch, pizzazz, poop, possession, potence, potency, potentiality, power, power pack, power structure, power struggle, powerfulness, preoccupation, prepossession, prepotency, press, pressing, pressure, productiveness, productivity, propulsion, psychalgia, psychomotor disturbance, puissance, pull, punch, push, rash impulse, ruling passion, sinew, steam, strength, stress, strong arm, stupor, superiority, superpower, thrust, tic, twitching, unresponsiveness, urge, urgency, validity, vehemence, vigor, vim, violence, virility, virtue, virulence, vitality, wattage, weight, withdrawal
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
COMPULSION, noun The eloquence of power.
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