different between forcible vs rampant

English

Etymology

From Middle English forcible, forsable, from Old French forcible, from forcier (“to conquer by force”).

Adjective

forcible (comparative more forcible, superlative most forcible)

1. Done by force, forced.
   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II, lines 790-96, [1]

     I fled; but he pursued (though more, it seems, / Inflamed with lust than rage), and, swifter far, / Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed, / And, in embraces forcible and foul / Engendering with me, of that rape begot / These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry / Surround me, as thou saw'st—

   • 1923, "Jim Crow Tendency," Time, 9 March, 1923, [3]

     Since the forcible ejection of pugilist Siki from the New York Bar in Paris, discussion of Negro rights has become serious.

   • 2008, U.S. Department of Justice – Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States

     Forcible rape, as defined in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Attempts or assaults to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded.

2. (rare or obsolete) Having (physical) force, forceful.
3. Having a powerful effect; forceful, telling, strong, convincing, effective.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, Book III, London: George Routledge & Sons, 1888, p. 207, [5]

     But that which hath been once most sufficient, may wax otherwise by alteration of time and place; that punishment which hath been sometimes forcible to bridle sin, may grow afterwards too weak and feebled.

   • c. 1598, William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, Act V, Scene 2, [6]

     Thou hast frighted the word out of his right sense, so forcible is thy wit.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Job 6:25 [7]

     How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?

   • 1859, Francis Bacon, Historia Densi et Rari (1623), translated by James Spedding and Robert Leslie Ellis, in The Philosophical Works of Francis Bacon, edited by James Spedding, London: Longman & Co., 1861, Vol. II, section 388, p. 470,

     Sweet smells are most forcible in dry substances, when broken; and so likewise in oranges or lemons, the nipping off their rind giveth out their smell more […]

   • 1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, Collins, 1998, Chapter 7,

     They all jumped up, shaking the water out of their ears and wringing their little blankets, and asked the Giant in shrill but forcible voices whether he thought they weren’t wet enough without this sort of thing.

4. Able to be forced.
   • 1831, Richard Burn, Joseph Chitty, Thomas Chitty, The Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer (volume 1, page 793)

     […] it seems that an entry is not forcible by the bare drawing up a latch, or pulling back the bolt of a door, there being no appearance therein of its being done by strong hand, or multitude of people; […]

   • 1835, Sir Thomas Edlyne Tomlins, Thomas Colpitts Granger, The Law-dictionary

     But an entry may be forcible, not only in respect of a violence actually done to the person of a man, but also in respect of any other kind of violence in the manner of the entry, as by breaking open the doors of a house […]

Derived terms

• forcible-feeble
• forcibly

Translations

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “forcible”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

English

Alternative forms

• rampaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English rampand, rampend, present participle of rampen (“to rise by climbing, shoot up, sprout, sty, ascend”), from Old French ramper (“to creep, climb”) (see below), equivalent to ramp +? -and or ramp +? -ant. Recorded since 1382, "standing on the hind legs" (as in heraldry), later, "fierce, ravenous" (1387). Compare Scots rampand (“rampant”).

Alternatively from Middle English *rampant (not found), from Old French rampant, the present participle of ramper (“to creep, climb”), equivalent to ramp +? -ant. Old French ramper derives from Frankish *ramp?n, *hramp?n (“to hook, grapple, climb”), from *rampa, *hrampa (“hook, claw, talon”), from Proto-Germanic *hrempan? (“to curve, shrivel, shrink, wrinkle”). More at ramp.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??æm.p?nt/
• Rhymes: -æmp?nt

Adjective

rampant (comparative more rampant, superlative most rampant)

1. (originally) Rearing on both hind legs with the forelegs extended.

   The Vienna riding school displays splendid rampant movement.

2. (heraldry) Rearing up, especially on its hind leg(s), with a foreleg raised and in profile.
   • 1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado

     ‘I forget your coat of arms.’
     ‘A human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.’

   • 1892, Thomas Hardy, The Well-Beloved

     little pieces of moustache on his upper lip, like a pair of minnows rampant

3. (architecture) Tilted, said of an arch with one side higher than the other, or a vault whose two abutments are located on an inclined plane.
4. Unrestrained or unchecked, usually in a negative manner.
   • 2013, Phil McNulty, "Man City 4-1 Man Utd", BBC Sport, 22 September 2013:

     In contrast to the despair of his opposite number, it was a day of delight for new City boss Manuel Pellegrini as he watched the rampant Blues make a powerful statement about their Premier League ambitions.

5. Rife, or occurring widely, frequently or menacingly.

Derived terms

Related terms

• ramp
• rampage

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• man-trap, mantrap

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???.p??/

Verb

rampant

1. present participle of ramper

Adjective

rampant (feminine singular rampante, masculine plural rampants, feminine plural rampantes)

1. (heraldry) rampant
2. (architecture) tilted
3. humbly inclined
4. (botany) extending over the ground rather than climbing upward
5. (literature) base; common
6. (military) stranded on the ground as opposed to flying staff

Further reading

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

Old French

Adjective

rampant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular rampant or rampante)

1. (heraldry) rampant

Declension

Descendants

• ? English: rampant
• French: rampant

Romanian

Etymology

From French rampant.

Adjective

rampant m or n (feminine singular rampant?, masculine plural rampan?i, feminine and neuter plural rampante)

1. rampant

Declension