coercion
- 01 C1 Advanced
the use of force or threats to make someone do something against their will.
the practice of compelling a person to behave in an involuntary way by use of threats or force. Uncountable in its general sense.
Simple“The witness claimed she only signed the document under coercion from the police.”
In context“The defendant argued that his confession was obtained through psychological coercion rather than physical violence, rendering it inadmissible in court.”
UsageOften used with the preposition 'under'.
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 C2 Proficiency
automatically changing a piece of data from one type to another, like turning a number into text.
the implicit conversion of a value from one data type to another by the compiler or interpreter.
Simple“The language uses type coercion to add a number and a string together.”
In context“Unexpected results in the calculation were traced back to automatic type coercion, where the integer was silently converted to a floating-point number.”
UsageCommonly referred to as 'type coercion'.
Synonyms - 03 C2 Proficiency
when the meaning of a word changes slightly to fit the grammar of a sentence.
the process by which the semantic content of a lexical item is shifted to satisfy the requirements of a grammatical construction.
Simple“In the phrase 'she enjoyed the book', coercion makes us understand she enjoyed reading it.”
In context“Aspectual coercion occurs when a stative verb is forced into a progressive construction, shifting its interpretation to a temporary activity.”
Synonymssemantic shift
“The Secretary-General stressed that “maritime chokepoints must never become instruments of coercion” and that the delivery of food, energy and essential goods must never be impeded.”
“As well as pursuing legal action against Matthew, she has since become an outspoken voice against reproductive coercion, working alongside the Good Law Project.”
Inherited from Middle English cohercioun, from Old French cohercion, from Latin coërcitiō (“magisterial coercion”), from past participle coercitus of coërceō (“to restrain, coerce”), from co- (“with”) + arceō (“to shut in, enclose”); see coerce.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.