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Force vs Strength - What's the difference?

force | strength |

In obsolete terms the difference between force and strength

is that force is to allow the force of; to value; to care for while strength is to give strength to; to strengthen.

As nouns the difference between force and strength

is that force is strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect while strength is the quality or degree of being strong.

As verbs the difference between force and strength

is that force is to violate (a woman); to rape while strength is to give strength to; to strengthen.

As a proper noun Force

is falls. used in place names.

force

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) force, fors, forse, from (etyl) .

Noun

(wikipedia force)
  • Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.
  • :
  • * (1800-1859)
  • *:He was, in the full force of the words, a good man.
  • Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.
  • *(William Shakespeare), Henry VI, part II
  • *:which now they hold by force , and not by right
  • (lb) Anything that is able to make a big change in a person or thing.
  • A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body which is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
  • Something or anything that has the power to produce an effect upon something else.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=(Henry Petroski), volume=100, issue=2, page=112-3
    • , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Opening Doors , passage=A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place. Applying a force tangential to the knob is essentially equivalent to applying one perpendicular to a radial line defining the lever.}}
  • (lb) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
  • :
  • *(William Shakespeare), (Cymbeline)
  • *:Is Lucius general of the forces ?
  • *
  • *:"A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there.."
  • *{{quote-news, year=2004, date=April 15, work=The Scotsman
    • , title= Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer , passage=For Lothian and Borders Police, the early-morning raid had come at the end one of biggest investigations carried out by the force , which had originally presented a dossier of evidence on the murder of Jodi Jones to the Edinburgh procurator-fiscal, William Gallagher, on 25 November last year.}}
  • (lb) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.
  • :
  • (lb) A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person.
  • (lb) Legal validity.
  • :
  • (lb) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry ", or lawful compulsion.
    • Usage notes
    * Adjectives often applied to "force": military, cultural, economic, gravitational, electric, magnetic, strong, weak, positive, negative, attractive, repulsive, good, evil, dark, physical, muscular, spiritual, intellectual, mental, emotional, rotational, tremendous, huge.
    Derived terms
    (Terms derived from "force") * air force * antiforce * brute force * centripetal force * centrifugal force * Coulomb force * Coriolis force * come into force * force field * force multiplier * force to be reckoned with * fundamental force * police force * spent force * task force * workforce

    Verb

    (forc)
  • (lb) To violate (a woman); to rape.
  • *:
  • *:For yf ye were suche fyfty as ye be / ye were not able to make resystence ageynst this deuyl / here lyeth a duchesse deede the whiche was the fayrest of alle the world wyf to syre Howel / duc of Bretayne / he hath murthred her in forcynge her / and has slytte her vnto the nauyl
  • *, II.1:
  • *:a young woman not farre from mee had headlong cast her selfe out of a high window, with intent to kill herselfe, only to avoid the ravishment of a rascally-base souldier that lay in her house, who offered to force her.
  • *, Bk.XVIII, Ch.xxi:
  • *:And I pray you for my sake to force yourselff there, that men may speke you worshyp.
  • (lb) To compel (someone or something) (to) do something.
  • *
  • *:Captain Edward Carlisle; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
  • *2011 , Tim Webb & Fiona Harvey, The Guardian , 23 March:
  • *:Housebuilders had warned that the higher costs involved would have forced them to build fewer homes and priced many homebuyers out of the market.
  • (lb) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of.
  • *, I.40:
  • *:Shall wee force the general law of nature, which in all living creatures under heaven is seene to tremble at paine?
  • (lb) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb).
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay / That scarce the victor forced the steel away.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:to force the tyrant from his seat by war
  • *(John Webster) (c.1580-c.1634)
  • *:Ethelbert ordered that none should be forced into religion.
  • *2007 , (The Guardian) , 4 November:
  • *:In a groundbreaking move, the Pentagon is compensating servicemen seriously hurt when an American tank convoy forced them off the road.
  • (lb) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force.
  • :
  • *2009 , "All things to Althingi", (The Economist) , 23 July:
  • *:The second problem is the economy, the shocking state of which has forced the decision to apply to the EU.
  • (lb) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.).
  • :
  • To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.
  • To create an out by touching a base in advance of a runner who has no base to return to while in possession of a ball which has already touched the ground.
  • :
  • (lb) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold.
  • (lb) To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.
  • *(John Webster) (c.1580-c.1634)
  • *:What can the church force more?
  • (lb) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
  • :(Shakespeare)
  • (lb) To allow the force of; to value; to care for.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:For me, I force not argument a straw.
    • Derived terms
    * enforce * forceful * forcible

    See also

    * Imperial unit: foot pound * metric unit: newton * coerce: To control by force.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (countable, Northern England) A waterfall or cascade.
  • * T. Gray
    • to see the falls or force of the river Kent

    Etymology 3

    See .

    Verb

    (forc)
  • To stuff; to lard; to farce.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit.

    Statistics

    *

    External links

    * * 1000 English basic words ----

    strength

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The quality or degree of being strong.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
    • Our castle's strength will laugh a siege to scorn.
  • * , chapter=5
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength —all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.}}
  • The intensity of a force or power; potency.
  • * 1699 , , Heads designed for an essay on conversations
    • Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
  • The strongest part of something; that on which confidence or reliance is based.
  • * Bible, (Psalms) xlvi. 1
    • God is our refuge and strength .
  • * (Jeremy Taylor) (1613–1677)
    • Certainly there is not a greater strength against temptation.
  • A positive attribute.
  • (obsolete) A strong place; a stronghold.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Synonyms

    * fortitude * power * ability * capability * potency * expertise

    Antonyms

    * (The quality of being strong) weakness * (A positive attribute) weakness

    Derived terms

    * bond strength * compressive strength * crushing strength * dielectic strength * fatigue strength * field strength * full-strength * impact strength * industrial-strength * inner strength * ionic strength * party strength * pillar of strength * relative strength * shear strength * strengthen * strengthening * strengthful * strengthless * strengthy * superstrength * tensile strength * tower of strength * ultimate strength * understrength * wet strength * yield strength

    Related terms

    * strong * strongly

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To give strength to; to strengthen.
  • * 1395 , (John Wycliffe), Bible , Job IV:
    • Lo! thou hast tau?t ful many men, and thou hast strengthid hondis maad feynt.
    (Chaucer)

    Statistics

    * English words suffixed with -th