different between sway vs force
sway
English
Etymology
Earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old Norse sveigja (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-Germanic *swaigijan? (compare Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble”), Dutch zwaaien, Dutch Low Saxon sweuen (“to sway in the wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweh?- (compare Lithuanian sva?gti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan ????????????????????-????????????????????????????? (pairi-šxuaxta, “to surround”), Sanskrit ?????? (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds”).
The noun derived from the verb.
Pronunciation
- enPR: sw?, IPA(key): /swe?/
- Rhymes: -e?
Noun
sway (countable and uncountable, plural sways)
- The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
- A rocking or swinging motion.
- Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side
- Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
- Rule; dominion; control; power.
- A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
- The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.
Translations
Verb
sway (third-person singular simple present sways, present participle swaying, simple past and past participle swayed)
- To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.
- Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.
- To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.
- To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.
- This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.
- To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp.
- 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious
- Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.
- 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious
- (nautical) To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.
- To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
- 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain
- The balance sways on our part.
- 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain
- To have weight or influence.
- 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie
- The example of sundry churches […] doth sway much.
- 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie
- To bear sway; to rule; to govern.
Derived terms
- asway
Translations
See also
- persuade
Anagrams
- -ways, Yaws, ways, yaws
sway From the web:
- what sway boy did tana get with
- what sway means
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- what sway bar links do
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- what sways back and forth
- what sways in the wind
force
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)
- Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.
- 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
- 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part II
- (countable) Anything that is able to make a substantial change in a person or thing.
- (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)
- Something or anything that has the power to produce a physical effect upon something else, such as causing it to move or change shape.
- (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. […]."
- 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline
- (uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.
- (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.
- (law) Legal validity.
- (law) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
- (linguistics, semantics, pragmatics) Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect a given meaning.
- (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]
- 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)
- (transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape. [from 14thc.]
- (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To exert oneself, to do one's utmost. [from 14thc.]
- And I pray you for my sake to force yourselff there, that men may speke you worshyp.
- (transitive) To compel (someone or something) to do something. [from 15thc.]
- 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.
- (transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of. [from 16thc.]
- (transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb). [from 16thc.]
- 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.
- (transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force. [from 16thc.]
- 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.
- 2009, "All things to Althingi", The Economist, 23 July:
- (transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.). [from 17thc.]
- To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.
- (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.
- (whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold.
- (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?
- c. 1613, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
- (archaic) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
- (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)
- (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
- 1778, Thomas West, A Guide to the Lakes in Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire
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)
- 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)
- force
- strength
Synonyms
- pouvoir
- puissance
- violence
Derived terms
Adjective
force (invariable)
- (archaic) Many; a lot of; a great quantity of.
Verb
force
- first/third-person singular present indicative of forcer
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive of forcer
- 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)
- 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)
- 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
- first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of forçar
- third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of forçar
- third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of forçar
- third-person singular (você) negative imperative of forçar
force From the web:
- what force holds the nucleus together
- what force holds atoms together
- what force makes an airplane turn
- what force is represented by the vector
- what forces hindered italian unity
- what forces formed the alps
- what force was holding the anvil up
- what force works against friction
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