Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. By necessity; by force of circumstance.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- By force or violence; of necessity.
- To force; constrain; compel.
Wiktionary
- adv. By force.
- adv. Necessarily.
- v. To force; to compel.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. By force; of necessary; at any rate.
- v. To force; to compel.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. by necessity; by force of circumstance
Etymologies
- Middle English par force, from Old French : par, by (from Latin per; see per) + force, force; see force.
Examples
“Hence, the mere presence of Nato troops – extending the writ of the central government - perforce, is an achievement in itself.”
“In the days when you had to stoke the coal stove and scrub the washing, class differences were perforce more pronounced.”
Electric Liberation, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“For food I gathered a few vegetables from farms on the fringe of the forest, which, perforce, I had to eat raw and after ten days on this diet found that I was able to eat only enough to keep me going.”
“** Obscure in the sense that no one read it the first time, perforce the second.”
“They are more like children to him, even the hunters, and as children he treats them, descending perforce to their level and playing with them as a man plays with puppies.”
“The water still poured in, and perforce we doubled up in the cockpit and tossed it out again.”
“Had the Factor gone but one step farther, perforce Snettishane would himself have mentioned the name of Lit-lit, but -- the Factor had not gone that one step farther.”
“By sunset this exchange of boats was made, and we said good-by to our Greek, who perforce had to go into Benicia and be locked up for his own violation of the law.”
“He who loves one must perforce love all the world and all the unborn worlds.”
“His quick-changing facial expressions might tell every thought and mood, but the tongue, perforce, ran hard after, repeating, like a second Boswell.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘perforce’.
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Archaic
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 327 more...
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Iaan
dirigisme, dystopia, cacotopia, ex ante, veritable, indefatigable, curmudgeon, desultory, antediluvian, transmogrify, pendent, elongate and 136 more...
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Uncommon and Interesting words
That come in handy, but might make you look like a douchebag.
prurient, lithe, superannuated, wanderlust, sanguine, florid, slugabed, candor, eldritch, superbowl syndrome, indolent, perforce and 37 more...

chained_bear Richard of Gloucester: You must have patience, gentle Clarence.
George of Clarence: (holding up his handcuffed hands) I must, perforce. Nov 5, 2008
dontcry Ah... so close! I should have done my reasearch! Ha! Nov 5, 2008
sionnach "To sleep, perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub" Nov 5, 2008
dontcry "To sleep, perforce to dream." Nov 5, 2008
elgiad007 How does one use this word? It seems so odd and doesn't easily roll off the tongue.
Is the following correct: "Regrettably and with much hesitance, the source control tool was perforce replaced with Team Foundation Server." Nov 5, 2008
elgiad007 This is also the name of my preferred source control tool, Perforce. Nov 5, 2008