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impel

[im-pel]

Origin

verb (used with object), -pelled, -pel·ling.

to drive or urge forward; press on; incite or constrain to action.

to drive or cause to move onward; propel; impart motion to.

Origin:
1375–1425; late Middle English impellen < Latin impellere to strike against, set in motion (transitive), equivalent to im- im-¹ + pellere to strike, move (something); akin to pulse¹

Related forms

un·im·pelled, adjective

Can be confused: 1. compel, impel (see synonym note at compel); 2. compelled, impelled.

Synonyms
1. actuate. See compel.

Antonyms
1. restrain.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Impel is one of our favorite verbs.

So is subtilize. Does it mean:

to spend time idly; loaf.

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

impel (ɪmˈpɛl)

—vb , -pels, -pelling, -pelled
1.	to urge or force (a person) to an action; constrain or motivate
2.	to push, drive, or force into motion

[C15: from Latin impellere to push against, drive forward, from im- (in) + pellere to drive, push, strike]

im'pellent

—n, —*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

impel

1490, from L. impellere "to push, strike against, drive forward, urge on," from in- "into" + pellere "to push, drive."

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"When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

-Thomas Jefferson

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