Log in or Sign up

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adv. By necessity; by force of circumstance.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. By force or violence; of necessity.
  2. To force; constrain; compel.

Wiktionary

  1. adv. By force.
  2. adv. Necessarily.
  3. v. To force; to compel.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adv. By force; of necessary; at any rate.
  2. v. To force; to compel.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adv. by necessity; by force of circumstance

Etymologies

  1. 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.”

    More equals less?

  • “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.”

    Walter (Bill) Gossner

  • “** Obscure in the sense that no one read it the first time, perforce the second.”

    White House Spellcheck FAIL. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState

  • “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.”

    Chapter 8

  • “The water still poured in, and perforce we doubled up in the cockpit and tossed it out again.”

    White and Yellow

  • “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.”

    THE MARRIAGE TO LIT-LIT

  • “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.”

    THE SIEGE OF THE 'LANCASHIRE QUEEN'

  • “He who loves one must perforce love all the world and all the unborn worlds.”

    The Kempton-Wace Letters

  • “His quick-changing facial expressions might tell every thought and mood, but the tongue, perforce, ran hard after, repeating, like a second Boswell.”

    All Gold Cañon

Show 10 more examples...

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • 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

‘perforce’ has been looked up 2082 times, loved by 4 people, added to 42 lists, commented on 6 times, and has a Scrabble score of 15.