forcing

Pluralforcings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of force.

   The drought is forcing farmers to abandon their fields.

   Forcing a confession rarely yields the truth.

   Note

   The -ing form does two jobs. After be it makes the progressive (they are forcing the pace). On its own it heads a noun phrase as a gerund (forcing the issue helped no one). Because force is transitive in its everyday meanings, the form almost always takes a direct object. That object is often followed by to or a prepositional phrase: forcing someone to leave, forcing a key into a lock.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The practice of raising plants to maturity earlier than the normal season, especially by using a hotbed.

   Like setting a plant's internal clock ahead so it flowers out of season.

   Commercial growers rely on forcing to bring rhubarb to market in late winter.

   The nursery's reputation rested on forcing, with fresh blooms ready long before spring.

   Note

   A gardener's word, built simply from force + -ing: the grower overrides the season instead of waiting for it. Heat is the usual lever. A hotbed, a heated frame or a greenhouse brings flowers, fruit or vegetables on ahead of their time. It works as a mass noun for the craft (skilled at forcing) and as a count noun for a single round of it (an early forcing).

3. 3
   nouncountable

   The net flow of energy into or out of a system, measured as the change in its energy balance.

   Like nudging a thermostat: a push that shifts the whole system's energy balance.

   Volcanic eruptions produce a temporary forcing that cools the surface for a few years.

   Climate models add up the different forcings to predict future warming.

   Note

   Climate science counts its forcings and adds them up. Greenhouse gases, solar variation and slow shifts in Earth's orbit each push the energy balance one way or the other, conventionally measured in watts per square meter. Astronomical or orbital forcing is the long-scale case, tied to the changing tilt of Earth's axis and shape of its orbit. James Croll proposed this mechanism for the ice ages in the 1840s.

4. 4
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The practice of extending the development time of an underexposed negative to bring out detail that would otherwise be lost.

   Like turning up a faint radio signal so you can finally hear the words.

   The lab recommended forcing to rescue detail from the underexposed roll.

   Through careful forcing, the photographer recovered shadows that had seemed lost.

   Similarpushing

   Oppositepulling

   Note

   A darkroom remedy for film shot with too little light. Development runs longer, or a more active developer is used, so a thin negative gains density and its shadows give up their detail. The rescue has a price: grain and contrast rise along with it. Photographers weigh that trade-off before choosing forcing over accepting a dim, flat print.

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A method in set theory used to prove that certain axioms are consistent with one another.

   Like building an extension onto a house to prove the new room can coexist with the old structure.

   Cohen used forcing to prove the independence of the continuum hypothesis.

   Modern set theory relies heavily on forcing to compare different models.

   Note

   Set theorists owe the method to Paul Cohen, who built new models of set theory by adjoining a "generic" object to an existing ground model. Its classic use is showing that a statement such as the continuum hypothesis is independent of the standard axioms. The results are stated as relative consistency and independence. In this field the word is a fixed technical term, not a figure of speech.

6. 6
   adjective

   Describing a bid that requires one's partner to keep bidding rather than pass.

   Like a chess move that leaves your opponent no choice but to respond.

   The jump shift is a forcing bid, so responder must keep the auction going.

   Experienced players signal strength with a forcing response.

   Note

   Bridge players set it against a bid that partner may pass. A forcing bid obliges a further call, keeping the auction open until an agreed level or condition is reached. It is a classifier, not a matter of degree: a bid is forcing or it is not. It also stands comfortably after the noun, as in "that response is forcing," and the verb's plain sense of compelling someone survives intact.

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