forcible

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English forcible,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French forcible (“strong, powerful”), a legal word in Anglo-Norman,^[4][5][6][7] formed from force (“strength”) with the suffix that gave English -ible.^[4][8][3] Etymonline derives it from forcier (“to conquer by violence”).^[6] The Anglo-Norman adjective is recorded from about 1185 for "strong, mighty", "forcible" and "valid".^[7] French force is from Vulgar Latin *fortia, from Latin fortis (“strong”).^[4][6] The form forceable, also found, is as if from force and -able.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Powerful, violent, done by force: in Hoccleve, about 1422, who wrote of the forcible and mighty assaults of virtue on the kingdom of heaven.^[2][4] The Middle English Dictionary also records forcible entry, the seizure of property by violence or threats, in the 1440s.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century,^[6] Dictionary.com to 1350–1400.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Besides the legal sense of "done by force", kept in forcible entry and forcible detainer,^[4][5] the word was used from the 1550s of people and things in the sense "strong, powerful", which lasted until about 1800.^[4][6] From 1573, in G. Harvey, it was used of words, arguments and representations having a powerful effect, telling or convincing,^[4] and later, from 1787, of a writer or painter.^[4] Short-lived senses were "necessary, unavoidable" (1574–1622) and "valid, binding" (1587, a sense Johnson recorded).^[4][10] Johnson (1755) listed "strong, mighty", "violent, impetuous" and "efficacious, powerful".^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1422 – powerful, violent; done by force.^[4][2]
• 1555 – of persons and things, strong, powerful (obsolete by 1803).^[4]
• 1573 – of words or reasoning, telling, convincing.^[4]
• 1574 – necessary, unavoidable (obsolete by 1622).^[4]
• 1582 – as an adverb, forcibly.^[4]
• 1787 – of a writer or painter, forceful.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Done by force against resistance; obtained by compulsion or violence, as in forcible entry: the forcible removal of the protesters.^{[3][11][4][12]}
2. Having force or energy; powerful, effective or convincing: She made a forcible case for reform.^[3][11][4]
3. (obsolete, 1555–1803) Of persons or things, strong or mighty.^[4][10]

Word family

• forcibleness
• forcibly
• unforcible

Related words

• force
• forceful
• fort

Usage notes

In the law of trespass, Black's Law Dictionary notes, forcible is used in a wide sense for any physical interference with another person or their property, however slight.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West