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Compulsory vs Forcible - What's the difference?

compulsory | forcible |

As adjectives the difference between compulsory and forcible

is that compulsory is required; obligatory; mandatory while forcible is able to be forced.

As a noun compulsory

is something that is compulsory or required.

compulsory

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Required; obligatory; mandatory.
  • * 1827 , A. D. Jr., Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal , A. and C. Black, page 212:
    • They are entirely private concerns, established by individual teachers, and attendance upon them is no more compulsory than attendance on our dispensaries.
  • * 1996 , (Ugo Pagano), Democracy and Efficiency in the Economic Enterprise , page 73:
    • Some might agree that membership in the firm is perhaps more compulsory than membership in a municipality, but balk at applying the analogy to the nation.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)
    • , volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Finland spreads word on schools , passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}}
  • Having the power of compulsion; constraining.

    • Synonyms

    * mandatory

    Antonyms

    * (required) optional

    Noun

    (compulsories)
  • Something that is compulsory or required.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2008, date=March 22, author=The Associated Press, title=French Victory in Ice Dance, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=Delobel and Schoenfelder failed to win the free dance, but they had built a big lead in the compulsories and the original dance. }}

    forcible

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Able to be forced.
  • Having force.
  • * Bible, Job vi. 2
    • How forcible are right words!
  • * Francis Bacon
    • Sweet smells are most forcible in dry substances, when broken.
  • * Hooker
    • That punishment which hath been sometimes forcible to bridle sin.
  • Done by force. Oxford American Dictionaries (MacBook widget)
  • * 2008 , U.S. Department of Justice – Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States
    • Forcible rape, as defined in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Attempts or assaults to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded.
  • Having a powerful effect; telling

    • References

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