different between intent vs force

English

Alternative forms

• entent (obsolete)

Etymology

Existing since Middle English entente, from Old French entent or entente, ultimately from Latin intentus. Modified later in spelling to align more closely with the Latin word. Compare intention.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?t?nt/

  Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

intent (countable and uncountable, plural intents)

1. A purpose; something that is intended.
2. (law) The state of someone’s mind at the time of committing an offence.

Synonyms

• (something that is intended): See also Thesaurus:intention

Translations

Adjective

intent (comparative more intent, superlative most intent)

1. Firmly fixed or concentrated on something.
   • 2014, Daniel Taylor, "World Cup 2014: Uruguay sink England as Suárez makes his mark," guardian.co.uk, 20 June:

     Uruguay were quick to the ball, strong in the tackle and seemed intent on showing they were a better team than had been apparent in their defeat to Costa Rica.

   • And it was while all were passionately intent upon the pleasing and snake-like progress of their uncle that a young girl in furs, ascending the stairs two at a time, peeped perfunctorily into the nursery as she passed the hallway—and halted amazed.

2. Engrossed.
3. Unwavering from a course of action.

Translations

Related terms

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin intentus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /in?tent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /in?ten/

Noun

intent m (plural intents)

1. try, intent
2. (castells) a castell that collapses before its construction is completed (as opposed to a castell carregat, which collapses after it is completed, or an intent desmuntat, which is not completed but is successfully dismantled without collapsing)

Related terms

• intenció
• intentar

Further reading

• “intent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “intent” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “intent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “intent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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