force or oblige (someone) to do something:a sense of duty compelled Harry to answer her questions
[with object] bring about (something) by the use of force or pressure:they may compel a witness’s attendance at court by issue of a summonshis striking appearance compelled attention
[with object and adverbial of direction] literary force to come or go in a particular direction:by heav’n’s high will compell’d from shore to shore