compelled

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of compel.

   The court compelled the company to release its internal records.

   Witnesses were compelled to testify under oath at the hearing.

   Note

   One spelling serves as both simple past and past participle, with the final l doubled before -ed. After be it builds the passive (witnesses were compelled to testify); after have, the perfect. It carries every meaning of compel, including producing something by force: a confession or a payment can be compelled, not only a person. The archaic sense of driving a crowd together and rounding it up belongs to older writing.

2. 2
   adjective

   Driven or forced to act, especially against one's own wishes.

   The judge ruled that compelled testimony could not be used against him.

   Compelled labor was outlawed across the territory by the new statute.

   Similarforced, involuntary, compulsory, obligatory

   Oppositevoluntary, willing, unforced

   Note

   Inner pressure is what the adjective usually reports, more than outside force: people feel very compelled to do something, or, as Lew Hunter puts it, are very compelled by watching Hamlet. The marker is degree. Very, more and most fit the adjective but not the past participle of compel, so "the court compelled him" is an act, while "I felt very compelled" describes a state of mind.

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