forced

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of force.

   Heavy snow forced the airport to cancel every flight.

   The committee was forced to delay its decision until spring.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs here. It is the simple past (the snow forced a closure), and it is the participle that follows have or be (they have forced, they were forced). The passive frame be forced to plus a verb carries the lemma's core idea of making someone act regardless of their will. Once the participle describes a thing rather than an action, as in a forced lock, it has become the break-in adjective.

2. 2
   adjective

   Resulting from strain rather than arising naturally; not spontaneous and lacking sincerity.

   The actor's forced enthusiasm made the whole scene feel hollow.

   There was something forced about his overly cheerful greeting.

   Similarstrained, artificial, contrived, feigned, unnatural

   Oppositenatural, spontaneous, genuine, sincere

   Note

   This is the gradable member of the family. It is the sense that comfortably takes more forced and most forced, because strain comes in degrees. It attaches to displays of feeling, as in forced laughter or a forced cheerfulness. It also works well after a verb or in the frame there was something forced about, where a speaker senses the effort without quite naming it.

   Her smile grew more forced as the evening wore on.

   It was the most forced apology I have ever heard.

3. 3
   adjective

   Acquired through force or pressure rather than by natural or willing means.

   The treaty rested on forced concessions from the weaker nation.

   Human rights groups condemned the forced relocation of entire villages.

   Similarinvoluntary, compulsory, mandatory

   Oppositevoluntary, willing, free

   Note

   Here the force lies in how something was obtained, and the word almost always sits before its noun: forced labor, forced relocation, forced concessions. Do not confuse it with the 'strained, insincere' meaning. Forced labor is labor that people were compelled to do. It is not labor that merely looks effortful or fake. Ask whether someone was made to do it; if so, this is the sense.

4. 4
   adjective

   Opened or entered by physical force rather than through normal access.

   Investigators noted the forced lock as clear evidence of a break-in.

   The forced entry tripped the building's security alarm just after midnight.

   Similarbroken

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