perforce

English

WOTD – 9 June 2008

Etymology

From Middle English par force, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French par force (“by force”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pəˈfɔːs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɚˈfɔɹs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)s

Adverb

perforce (not comparable)

1. (archaic) By force.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     If ſhe denie, Lord Hastings goe with him,
     And from her iealous Armes pluck him perforce.

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
     Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
     Thy rankest fault; all of them; and require
     My dukedom of thee, which, perforce, I know
     Thou must restore.

2. By constraint of circumstances; of necessity, inevitably, unavoidably; as a matter of course.
   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 17, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     Mr. Wickham's happiness and her own were perforce delayed a little longer, and Mr. Collins's proposal accepted with as good a grace as she could..

   • 1882, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Inferno, canto 34:

     "Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these,"
     The Master said, panting as one fatigued,
     "Must we perforce depart from so much evil."

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     So, bevelling around by Mullett's and the Signal House which they shortly reached, they proceeded perforce in the direction of Amiens street railway terminus

   • 1939 July, John D. Hewitt, “Some Notable British Main Lines: 1. Settle and Carlisle, L.M.S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 35:

     Accordingly work perforce had to be begun. The first sod was cut at Anley, near Settle, in November, 1869, [...].

   • 2006, Alejandro Portes, Rubén G. Rumbaut, Immigrant America: A Portrait, 3rd edition, page 239:

     Adult immigrants must perforce learn some English, and their children are likely to become English monolinguals.

   • 2013 January 8, European Court of Human Rights, A.K. and L. v. Croatia‎^[1], number 37956/11, marginal 62–63:

     The central issue in this case is whether the procedures followed respected the applicants’ family life or constituted an interference with the exercise of the right to respect for family life which could not be justified as necessary in a democratic society. […] It is true that Article 8 contains no explicit procedural requirements, but this is not conclusive of the matter. The relevant considerations to be weighed by a local authority in reaching decisions on children in its care must perforce include the views and interests of the natural parents.

Quotations

• For more quotations using this term, see Citations:perforce.

Translations

by force

• French: forcément (fr)
• Italian: forzatamente (it)
• Polish: siłą rzeczy (pl), z konieczności
• Russian: нево́лей (ru) (nevólej)
• Scottish Gaelic: air èiginn
• Spanish: por fuerza (es), forzadamente, de juro

necessarily

• Bulgarian: по необходимост (po neobhodimost)
• Catalan: per força (ca), forçosament (ca)
• French: nécessairement (fr)
• Italian: per forza
• Polish: siłą rzeczy (pl)
• Russian: ^{(please verify)} по необходи́мости (po neobxodímosti) , во́лей-нево́лей (ru) (vólej-nevólej)
• Spanish: por fuerza (es), forzosamente (es)

Verb

perforce (third-person singular simple present perforces, present participle perforcing, simple past and past participle perforced)

1. (obsolete) To force; to compel.