different between command vs force

English

Etymology

From Middle English commanden, commaunden, comaunden, comanden, from Old French comander (modern French commander), from Vulgar Latin *commandare, from Latin commendare, from com- + mandare, from mand? (“I order, command”). Compare commend (a doublet), and mandate.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k??m??nd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /k??mænd/
• Hyphenation: com?mand

Noun

command (countable and uncountable, plural commands)

1. An order to do something.

   I was given a command to cease shooting.

2. The right or authority to order, control or dispose of; the right to be obeyed or to compel obedience.

   to have command of an army
3. power of control, direction or disposal; mastery.

   he had command of the situation

   England has long held command of the sea

   a good command of language
4. A position of chief authority; a position involving the right or power to order or control.

   General Smith was placed in command.

5. The act of commanding; exercise or authority of influence.
   • 1851, Herbert Spencer, Social Statics, p. 180

     Command cannot be otherwise than savage, for it implies an appeal to force, should force be needful.

6. (military) A body or troops, or any naval or military force, under the control of a particular officer; by extension, any object or body in someone's charge.
7. Dominating situation; range or control or oversight; extent of view or outlook.
8. (computing) A directive to a computer program acting as an interpreter of some kind, in order to perform a specific task.
9. (baseball) The degree of control a pitcher has over his pitches.

   He's got good command tonight.

10. A command performance.
    • 1809, Dorothy Jordan, letter, cited in Claire Tomalin, Mrs Jordan's Profession, Penguin 2012, p. 220:

      Atkinson […] had hinted to me that the Duke of Richmond was so delighted with my acting that he should not be surprised if there was a second command.

Translations

See also

• imperative mood

References

• Command on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

command (third-person singular simple present commands, present participle commanding, simple past and past participle commanded)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To order, give orders; to compel or direct with authority.

   The soldier was commanded to cease firing.

   The king commanded his servant to bring him dinner.

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Revenge

     We are commanded to forgive our enemies, but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To have or exercise supreme power, control or authority over, especially military; to have under direction or control.

   to command an army or a ship
3. (transitive) To require with authority; to demand, order, enjoin.

   he commanded silence

   • 2013, Louise Taylor, English talent gets left behind as Premier League keeps importing (in The Guardian, 20 August 2013)[1]

     The reasons for this growing disconnect are myriad and complex but the situation is exacerbated by the reality that those English players who do smash through our game's "glass ceiling" command radically inflated transfer fees.

4. (transitive) to dominate through ability, resources, position etc.; to overlook.

   Bridges commanded by a fortified house. (Motley.)

5. (transitive) To exact, compel or secure by influence; to deserve, claim.

   A good magistrate commands the respect and affections of the people.

   Justice commands the respect and affections of the people.

   The best goods command the best price.

   This job commands a salary of £30,000.

6. (transitive) To hold, to control the use of.

   The fort commanded the bay.

   • Two wooden bridges led across the river; each was commanded by a fortified house

   • December 1699, Joseph Addison, letter to William Congreve

     One [side] commands a view of the finest garden.

   • 1834, The Hobart Town Magazine (volume 2, page 323)

     […] they made considerable progress in the art of embalming the wild fruits of their native land, so that they might command cranberries and hindberries at all times and seasons.

7. (intransitive, archaic) To have a view, as from a superior position.
8. (obsolete) To direct to come; to bestow.

Synonyms

• (give an order): decree, order

Translations

Derived terms

References

• command in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “command”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: fôrs, IPA^(key): /f??s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /f??s/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: f?rs, IPA^(key): /fo(?)?s/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /fo?s/
• Rhymes: -??(?)s

Etymology 1

From Middle English force, fors, forse, from Old French force, from Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *fortia, from neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”).

Noun

force (countable and uncountable, plural forces)

1. Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.
2. Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part II

     which now they hold by force, and not by right

3. (countable) Anything that is able to make a substantial change in a person or thing.
4. (countable, physics) A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body and which has a direction and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
5. Something or anything that has the power to produce a physical effect upon something else, such as causing it to move or change shape.
6. (countable) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
   • 1611, 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. […]."
8. (uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.

9. (countable) 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.
10. (law) Legal validity.

11. (law) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
12. (linguistics, semantics, pragmatics) Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect a given meaning.
13. (humorous or science fiction, with the, often capitalized) A metaphysical and ubiquitous power from the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. See usage note. [1977]
14. Synonym of police force (“typically with preceding "the"”)

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.
• (science fiction): Outside of fiction, the force may be used as an alternative to invoking luck, destiny, or God. For example, the force was with him instead of luck was on his side, or may the force be with you instead of may God be with you.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• may the Force be with you
• workforce

Related terms

Translations

References

• force on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Middle English forcen, from Old French forcer, from Late Latin *forti?re, from Latin fortia.

Verb

force (third-person singular simple present forces, present participle forcing, simple past and past participle forced)

1. (transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape. [from 14^thc.]
2. (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To exert oneself, to do one's utmost. [from 14^thc.]

   • And I pray you for my sake to force yourselff there, that men may speke you worshyp.

3. (transitive) To compel (someone or something) to do something. [from 15^thc.]

   • Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; 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.

4. (transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of. [from 16^thc.]
5. (transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb). [from 16^thc.]

   • It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay / That scarce the victor forced the steel away.

   • 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.

6. (transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force. [from 16^thc.]
   • 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.

7. (transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.). [from 17^thc.]

8. To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.
9. (transitive, baseball) 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.

10. (whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold.
11. (archaic) To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.
    • c. 1613, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi

      What can the church force more?

12. (archaic) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
13. (obsolete) To allow the force of; to value; to care for.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

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

Etymology 3

From Middle English force, forz, fors, from Old Norse fors (“waterfall”), from Proto-Germanic *fursaz (“waterfall”). Cognate with Icelandic foss (“waterfall”), Norwegian foss (“waterfall”), Swedish fors (“waterfall”). Doublet of foss.

Noun

force (plural forces)

1. (countable, Northern England) A waterfall or cascade.
   • 1778, Thomas West, A Guide to the Lakes in Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire

     to see the falls or force of the river Kent

Derived terms

• forcefall

Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English forcen, forsen, a use of force, with confusion of farce (“to stuff”).

Verb

force (third-person singular simple present forces, present participle forcing, simple past and past participle forced)

1. To stuff; to lard; to farce.

Derived terms

• forcemeat

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Cofer, Corfe, corfe

French

Etymology

From Middle French force, from Old French force, from Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *fortia, re-analyzed as a feminine singular from the neuter plural of Latin fortis. Compare Catalan força, Portuguese força, Italian forza, Spanish fuerza.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??s/
• Rhymes: -??s
• Homophones: forcent, forces

Noun

force f (plural forces)

1. force
2. strength

Synonyms

• pouvoir
• puissance
• violence

Derived terms

Adjective

force (invariable)

1. (archaic) Many; a lot of; a great quantity of.

Verb

force

1. first/third-person singular present indicative of forcer
2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of forcer
3. second-person singular imperative of forcer

Further reading

• “force” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French force.

Noun

force f (plural forces)

1. force (physical effort; physical might)

Descendants

• French: force

Old French

Alternative forms

• forche (Picardy, Old Northern French)
• fors

Etymology

From Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *fortia, re-analyzed as a feminine singular from the neuter plural of Latin fortis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?r.t?s?/

Noun

force f (oblique plural forces, nominative singular force, nominative plural forces)

1. strength; might

Related terms

• esforcer
• esfort
• fort
• forteresce

Descendants

• Middle French: force
  • French: force
• Walloon: foice
• ? Middle English: force / fors / forse
  • English: force

Portuguese

Verb

force

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of forçar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of forçar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of forçar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of forçar