different between claim vs compel

English

Alternative forms

• claym (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English claimen, borrowed from Old French clamer (“to call, name, send for”), from Latin cl?m?, cl?m?re (“to call, cry out”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh?- (“to shout”), which is imitative; see also Lithuanian kalba (“language”), Old English hl?wan (“to low, make a noise like a cow”), Old High German halan (“to call”), Ancient Greek ????? (kalé?, “to call, convoke”), ?????? (kledon, “report, fame”), ??????? (kélados, “noise”), Middle Irish cailech (“cock”), Latin cal? (“to call out, announce solemnly”), Sanskrit ????? (u?a?kala, “cock”, literally “dawn-calling”). Cognate with Spanish llamar and clamar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kle?m/
• Rhymes: -e?m

Noun

claim (plural claims)

1. A demand of ownership made for something.

   a claim of ownership

   a claim of victory

2. The thing claimed.
3. The right or ground of demanding.

   You don't have any claim on my time, since I'm no longer your employee.

4. A new statement of something one believes to be the truth, usually when the statement has yet to be verified or without valid evidence provided.

   The company's share price dropped amid claims of accounting fraud.

5. A demand of ownership for previously unowned land.

   Miners had to stake their claims during the gold rush.

6. (law) A legal demand for compensation or damages.

Usage notes

• Demand ownership of land not previously owned. One usually stakes a claim.
• The legal sense. One usually makes a claim. See Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take

Descendants

• ? Afrikaans: kleim
• ? Dutch: claimen

Translations

Verb

claim (third-person singular simple present claims, present participle claiming, simple past and past participle claimed)

1. To demand ownership of.
2. To state a new fact, typically without providing evidence to prove it is true.
3. To demand ownership or right to use for land.
4. (law) To demand compensation or damages through the courts.
5. (intransitive) To be entitled to anything; to deduce a right or title; to have a claim.

   • We must know how the first ruler, from whom any one claims, came by his authority, upon what ground any one has empire

6. To cause the loss of, usually by violent means.

7. (archaic) To proclaim.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

8. (archaic) To call or name.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

Translations

Related terms

• claimable
• claimant
• claimer
• disclaim
• disclaimer

Further reading

• claim in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• claim in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• malic

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

claim

1. first-person singular present indicative of claimen
2. imperative of claimen

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: klaim

English

Etymology

From Middle English compellen, borrowed from Middle French compellir, from Latin compellere, itself from com- (“together”) + pellere (“to drive”). Displaced native Middle English fordriven ("to drive out, to lead to, to compel, to force"), from Old English fordr?fan. More at fordrive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?m?p?l/
• Rhymes: -?l
• Hyphenation: com?pel

Verb

compel (third-person singular simple present compels, present participle compelling, simple past and past participle compelled)

1. (transitive, archaic, literally) To drive together, round up (Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. (transitive) To overpower; to subdue.
3. (transitive) To force, constrain or coerce.

   Logic compels the wise, while fools feel compelled by emotions.

   • 1600, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, act 5, scene 1,

     Against my will, / As Pompey was, am I compell’d to set / Upon one battle all our liberties.

   • 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England

     Wolsey […] compelled the people to pay up the whole subsidy at once.

4. (transitive) To exact, extort, (make) produce by force.
5. (obsolete) To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.

   • Easy sleep their weary limbs compell'd.

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Geraint and Enid

     I compel all creatures to my will.

6. (obsolete) To gather or unite in a crowd or company.

   • in one troop compell'd

7. (obsolete) To call forth; to summon.

Derived terms

Related terms

• compulsion

Translations

References

• compel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “compel” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Random House Webster’s Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.