IMPEL
What does "IMPEL" mean?
To drive or urge someone forcefully to act, or to push something into motion.
Meanings
- To force or strongly urge a person to do something. Hunger impelled them to abandon caution and knock on a stranger's door.
- To drive an object forward; to set in motion by physical force. Steam was the force that impelled the great pistons. formal
Did you know?
- 'Impel', 'compel', 'expel', 'repel', and 'propel' are a family of five: every one is built on the Latin 'pellere', to push or drive.
Word origin
From Latin 'impellere', from 'in-' (toward) plus 'pellere' (to push, drive); the same 'pellere' root behind 'compel', 'expel', 'repel', and 'propel'.
Remember it
IMPEL pushes you IN toward action; COMPEL forces you, but IMPEL more often comes from a drive within.
A little poem
Compel is a hand at your back, a shove from behind;
impel is the engine you find you cannot turn off in your mind.
couplet
What it teaches
What impels you from within outlasts what compels you from without.
Quick facts
What does IMPEL mean?
To drive or urge someone forcefully to act, or to push something into motion.
Is IMPEL a valid word?
Yes — IMPEL is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is IMPEL?
IMPEL has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does IMPEL come from?
From Latin 'impellere', from 'in-' (toward) plus 'pellere' (to push, drive); the same 'pellere' root behind 'compel', 'expel', 'repel', and 'propel'.
What can IMPEL teach us?
What impels you from within outlasts what compels you from without.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.