Etymologically
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compulsive

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Pronunciation

  • /kəmˈpʌlsɪv/[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Medieval Latin compulsivus,[2][3][4] from compulsus, the past participle of compellō (“to drive together, force”),[5][2][6] which is formed from com- (“with, together”) and pellō (“to drive”), from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to thrust, strike, drive”).[5] The OED takes the Latin adjective as a form of that type rather than a recorded word, and compares the later French compulsif;[4] Etymonline derives the English word from the French one.[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Dictionary.com instead form it from the obsolete English verb compulse and the suffix -ive.[7][8] It is related to compel and compulsion.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having the power to compel; exercising compulsion: Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates this sense to 1588,[7] the Shorter Oxford to the late 16th century,[3][2] and the OED's first record is in Shakespeare's Hamlet (1604).[4] Etymonline gives about 1600.[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the adjective was used of forces that drive something on (Shakespeare's Othello).[4] From 1611 to 1836 it was used of things done under compulsion, forced or enforced.[4][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "having the power to compel; forcible".[9] The modern psychological sense, of behaviour driven by an irresistible inner urge, is recorded from 1902, in a translation of Kraepelin's textbook of psychiatry,[4][5] and the Oxford Dictionary of English notes that it began as a term of psychology in the early 20th century.[2] From it came the noun for a person subject to compulsions (1957)[4][5] and the use, from 1961, for a book or the like that holds one's attention as if by compulsion.[4] An earlier noun, something that compels, is recorded from 1638 but is obsolete.[4][5]

Timeline

  • 1588 – having the power to compel.[7]
  • 1604 – exercising compulsion, coercive, in Shakespeare's Hamlet.[4]
  • 1611 – caused by compulsion, forced (obsolete by 1836).[4]
  • 1638 – noun, something that compels (obsolete).[4][5]
  • 1902 – psychology: acting from or typical of a compulsion.[4][5]
  • 1957 – noun, a person subject to compulsions.[4][5]
  • 1961 – of a book, holding one's attention.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Caused by or acting on an irresistible inner urge, a psychological compulsion: a compulsive gambler, compulsive hand-washing.[10][7][4]
  2. So absorbing that one cannot stop reading or watching: The series makes compulsive viewing.[10][4]
  3. Having the power to compel; coercive.[7][4]
  4. (archaic) Done under compulsion; forced.[7][4]

Noun

  1. (psychology) A person subject to a psychological compulsion.[10][7][4]

Word family

  • compulsively
  • compulsiveness
  • compulsivity
  • uncompulsive
  • obsessive-compulsive
  • noncompulsive

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins