Library / English Dictionary

IMPELLED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Urged or forced to action through moral pressure

Example:

felt impelled to take a stand against the issue

Synonyms:

driven; impelled

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

motivated (provided with a motive or given incentive for action)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Past simple / past participle of the verb impel

Credits

 Context examples: 

My rage was without bounds; I sprang on him, impelled by all the feelings which can arm one being against the existence of another.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Miss Crawford had been in gay spirits when they first danced together, but it was not her gaiety that could do him good: it rather sank than raised his comfort; and afterwards, for he found himself still impelled to seek her again, she had absolutely pained him by her manner of speaking of the profession to which he was now on the point of belonging.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

These bitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I, with greater policy, concealed my struggles, and flattered you into the belief of my being impelled by unqualified, unalloyed inclination; by reason, by reflection, by everything.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

A method of roughening the surface of a natural tooth or a dental restoration, most likely the inside of a metal crown or the facial side of a metal crown to prepare it for repair, utilizing a gas-impelled jet of a fine abrasive.

(Microetching, NCI Thesaurus)

So sensible of this, beforehand, that I had really felt ashamed of doing what I was nevertheless impelled to do, I went back to the inn.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I could scarcely catch my breath, so fiercely was I impelled through the heavens.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

She possessed a gentle, caressing tongue that soothed him when it passed over his soft little body, and that impelled him to snuggle close against her and to doze off to sleep.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It was this, and not the mere story, that impelled Martin to write it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited, but felt impelled to hurry on, although drenched by the rain which poured from a black and comfortless sky.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Impelled by an irresistible presentiment, you will eagerly advance to it, unlock its folding doors, and search into every drawer—but for some time without discovering anything of importance—perhaps nothing but a considerable hoard of diamonds.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)