Drive vs. Force — What's the Difference?

Operate and control the direction and speed of a motor vehicle

In physics, a force is any influence that, when unopposed, will change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (which includes to begin moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate.

Propel or carry along by force in a specified direction

Strength or energy as an attribute of physical action or movement

Urge or force (animals or people) to move in a specified direction

Coercion or compulsion, especially with the use or threat of violence

(of a fact or feeling) compel (someone) to act in a particular way, especially one that is considered undesirable or inappropriate

Mental or moral strength or power

A trip or journey in a car

An organized body of military personnel or police

An innate, biologically determined urge to attain a goal or satisfy a need

A waterfall.

An organized effort by a number of people to achieve a purpose

Make a way through or into by physical strength; break open by force

The transmission of power to machinery or to the wheels of a motor vehicle

Make (someone) do something against their will

(in ball games) a forceful stroke made with a free swing of the bat, racket, or foot against the ball

The capacity to do work or cause physical change; energy, strength, or active power

An act of driving a group of animals to a particular destination

Power made operative against resistance; exertion

To push, propel, or press onward forcibly; urge forward

The use of physical power or violence to compel or restrain

To repulse or put to flight by force or influence

Intellectual power or vigor, especially as conveyed in writing or speech.

To guide, control, or direct (a vehicle).

Moral strength.

To convey or transport in a vehicle

A capacity for affecting the mind or behavior; efficacy

To traverse in a vehicle

One that possesses such capacity

To supply the motive force or power to and cause to function

A body of persons or other resources organized or available for a certain purpose

To cause or sustain, as if by supplying force or power

A person or group capable of influential action

To compel or force to work, often excessively

Military strength.

To force into or from a particular act or state

A unit of a nation's military personnel, especially one deployed into combat

To force to go through or penetrate

A vector quantity indicating the strength and direction of the capacity to accelerate a body. Newton's second law of motion states that a free body accelerates in the direction of the net force and that its acceleration is directly proportional to the force and inversely proportional to its mass.

To create or produce by penetrating forcibly

See fundamental force.

To carry through vigorously to a conclusion

(Baseball) A force play.

(Sports) To throw, strike, or cast (a ball, for example) hard or rapidly.

To compel through pressure or necessity

(Basketball) To move with the ball directly through

To gain by the use of force or coercion

(Baseball) To cause (a run or runner) to be scored by batting. Often used with in.

To move or effect against resistance or inertia

(Football) To advance the ball over (certain yardage) in plays from scrimmage.

To inflict or impose relentlessly

To chase (game) into the open or into traps or nets.

To put undue strain on

To search (an area) for game in such a manner.

To increase or accelerate (a pace, for example) to the maximum.

To move along or advance quickly

To produce with effort and against one's will

To rush, dash, or advance violently against an obstruction

To use (language) with obvious lack of ease and naturalness.

To operate a vehicle, such as a car

To move, open, or clear by force

To go or be transported in a vehicle

To break down or open by force

(Sports) To hit, throw, or impel a ball or other missile forcibly.

To rape.

(Basketball) To move directly to the basket with the ball.

To induce change in (a complex system) by changing one of its parameters

(Football) To advance the ball in plays from scrimmage.

(Botany) To cause to grow or mature by artificially accelerating normal processes.

To make an effort to reach or achieve an objective; aim.

To put (a runner) out on a force play.

The act of driving

To allow (a run) to be scored by walking a batter when the bases are loaded.

A trip or journey in a vehicle

(Games) To cause an opponent to play (a particular card).

Abbr. Dr. A road for automobiles and other vehicles.

Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.

The means or apparatus for transmitting motion or power to a machine or from one machine part to another.

Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.

The position or operating condition of such a mechanism

(countable) Anything that is able to make a substantial change in a person or thing.

The means by which automotive power is applied to a roadway

A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body and which has a direction and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)

The means or apparatus for controlling and directing an automobile

Something or anything that has the power to produce a physical effect upon something else, such as causing it to move or change shape.

(Computers) A device that reads data from and often writes data onto a storage medium, such as an optical disc or flash memory.

(countable) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.

A strong organized effort to accomplish a purpose

(uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.

Energy, push, or aggressiveness

(countable) A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person.

(Psychology) A strong motivating tendency or instinct related to self-preservation, reproduction, or aggression that prompts activity toward a particular end.

(legal) Legal validity.

A massive, sustained military offensive.

(legal) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.

(Sports) The act of hitting, knocking, or thrusting a ball very swiftly.

Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect a given meaning.

(Sports) The stroke or thrust by which a ball is driven

|often|capitalized}}Star Wars A metaphysical and ubiquitous power from the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. See usage note.

(Sports) The ball or puck as it is propelled

Synonym of police force

(Basketball) The act of moving with the ball directly to the basket.

A waterfall or cascade.

(Football) A series of downs in which the ball is advanced by the offensive team.

(transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape.

A rounding up and driving of livestock to new pastures or to market.

To exert oneself, to do one's utmost.

A gathering and driving of logs down a river.

(transitive) To compel (someone or something) to do something.

The cattle or logs thus driven.

(transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of.

Planned, usually long-lasting, effort to achieve something; ability coupled with ambition, determination, and motivation.

(transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb).

Violent or rapid motion; a rushing onward or away; especially, a forced or hurried dispatch of business.

(transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force.

An act of driving (prompting) game animals forward, to be captured or hunted.

(transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.).

An act of driving (prompting) livestock animals forward, to transport a herd.

To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.

(military) A sustained advance in the face of the enemy to take a strategic objective.

To create an out by touching a base in advance of a runner who has no base to return to while in possession of a ball which has already touched the ground.

A mechanism used to power or give motion to a vehicle or other machine or machine part.

(whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold.

A trip made in a vehicle (now generally in a motor vehicle).

(archaic) To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.

A driveway.

(archaic) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.

A type of public roadway.

(obsolete) To allow the force of; to value; to care for.

(dated) A place suitable or agreeable for driving; a road prepared for driving.

To stuff; to lard; to farce.

(psychology) Desire or interest.

To stuff; to lard; to farce.

(computer hardware) An apparatus for reading and writing data to or from a mass storage device such as a disk.

To constrain to do or to forbear, by the exertion of a power not resistible; to compel by physical, moral, or intellectual means; to coerce; as, masters force slaves to labor.

(computer hardware) A mass storage device in which the mechanism for reading and writing data is integrated with the mechanism for storing data.

To compel, as by strength of evidence; as, to force conviction on the mind.

(golf) A stroke made with a driver.

To do violence to; to overpower, or to compel by violence to one's will; especially, to ravish; to violate; to commit rape upon.

A ball struck in a flat trajectory.

To obtain, overcome, or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress; as, to force the castle; to force a lock.

(cricket) A type of shot played by swinging the bat in a vertical arc, through the line of the ball, and hitting it along the ground, normally between cover and midwicket.

To impel, drive, wrest, extort, get, etc., by main strength or violence; - with a following adverb, as along, away, from, into, through, out, etc.

(soccer) A straight level shot or pass.

To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.

(American football) An offensive possession, generally one consisting of several plays and/ or first downs, often leading to a scoring opportunity.

To exert to the utmost; to urge; hence, to strain; to urge to excessive, unnatural, or untimely action; to produce by unnatural effort; as, to force a conceit or metaphor; to force a laugh; to force fruits.

A charity event such as a fundraiser, bake sale, or toy drive.

To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit of which he has none.

(retail) A campaign aimed at selling more of a certain product, e.g. by offering a discount.

To provide with forces; to reënforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.

(typography) An impression or matrix formed by a punch drift.

To allow the force of; to value; to care for.

A collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river.

To use violence; to make violent effort; to strive; to endeavor.

(transitive) To provide an impetus for motion or other physical change, to move an object by means of the provision of force thereto.

To make a difficult matter of anything; to labor; to hesitate; hence, to force of, to make much account of; to regard.

(transitive) To provide an impetus for a non-physical change, especially a change in one's state of mind.

To be of force, importance, or weight; to matter.

To displace either physically or non-physically, through the application of force.

A waterfall; a cascade.

To cause intrinsic motivation through the application or demonstration of force: to impel or urge onward thusly, to compel to move on, to coerce, intimidate or threaten.

Capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect; strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigor; might; often, an unusual degree of strength or energy; especially, power to persuade, or convince, or impose obligation; pertinency; validity; special signification; as, the force of an appeal, an argument, a contract, or a term.

(transitive) (especially of animals) To impel or urge onward by force; to push forward; to compel to move on.

Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion; as, by force of arms; to take by force.

To direct a vehicle powered by a horse, ox or similar animal.

Strength or power for war; hence, a body of land or naval combatants, with their appurtenances, ready for action; - an armament; troops; warlike array; - often in the plural; hence, a body of men prepared for action in other ways; as, the laboring force of a plantation; the armed forces.

(transitive) To cause animals to flee out of.

Strength or power exercised without law, or contrary to law, upon persons or things; violence.

(transitive) To move (something) by hitting it with great force.

Any action between two bodies which changes, or tends to change, their relative condition as to rest or motion; or, more generally, which changes, or tends to change, any physical relation between them, whether mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic, or of any other kind; as, the force of gravity; cohesive force; centrifugal force.

(transitive) To cause (a mechanism) to operate.

A unit that is part of some military service;

To operate (a wheeled motorized vehicle).

One possessing or exercising power or influence or authority;

To operate (an aircraft).

(physics) the influence that produces a change in a physical quantity;

(transitive) To motivate; to provide an incentive for.

Group of people willing to obey orders;

(transitive) To compel (to do something).

A powerful effect or influence;

(transitive) To cause to become.

An act of aggression (as one against a person who resists);

To hit the ball with a drive.

Physical energy or intensity;

(intransitive) To travel by operating a wheeled motorized vehicle.

A group of people having the power of effective action;

(transitive) To convey (a person, etc.) in a wheeled motorized vehicle.

(of a law) having legal validity;

(intransitive) To move forcefully.

To cause to do through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means :

(intransitive) To be moved or propelled forcefully (especially of a ship).

Urge or force (a person) to an action; constrain or motivate

(transitive) To urge, press, or bring to a point or state.

Move with force,

(transitive) To carry or to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute.

Impose or thrust urgently, importunately, or inexorably;

(transitive) To clear, by forcing away what is contained.

Squeeze like a wedge into a tight space;

(mining) To dig horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.

Force into or from an action or state, either physically or metaphorically;

(American football) To put together a drive (n.): to string together offensive plays and advance the ball down the field.

Do forcibly; exert force;

(obsolete) To distrain for rent.

Cause to move along the ground by pulling;

(transitive) To separate the lighter (feathers or down) from the heavier, by exposing them to a current of air.

Take by force;

To be the dominant party in a sex act. en

To impel or urge onward by force in a direction away from one, or along before one; to push forward; to compel to move on; to communicate motion to; as, to drive cattle; to drive a nail; smoke drives persons from a room.

To urge on and direct the motions of, as the beasts which draw a vehicle, or the vehicle borne by them; hence, also, to take in a carriage; to convey in a vehicle drawn by beasts; as, to drive a pair of horses or a stage; to drive a person to his own door.

To urge, impel, or hurry forward; to force; to constrain; to urge, press, or bring to a point or state; as, to drive a person by necessity, by persuasion, by force of circumstances, by argument, and the like.

To carry or; to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute.

To clear, by forcing away what is contained.

To dig Horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.

To pass away; - said of time.

Specif., in various games, as tennis, baseball, etc., to propel (the ball) swiftly by a direct stroke or forcible throw.

To operate (a vehicle) while it is on motion, by manipulating the controls, such as the steering, propulsion, and braking mechanisms.

To rush and press with violence; to move furiously.

To be forced along; to be impelled; to be moved by any physical force or agent; to be driven.

To go by carriage; to pass in a carriage; to proceed by directing or urging on a vehicle or the animals that draw it; as, the coachman drove to my door.

To press forward; to aim, or tend, to a point; to make an effort; to strive; - usually with at.

To distrain for rent.

To make a drive, or stroke from the tee.

To go from one place to another in a vehicle, serving as the operator of the vehicle; to drive{9} a vehicle from one location to another.

In various games, as tennis, cricket, etc., the act of player who drives the ball; the stroke or blow; the flight of the ball, etc., so driven.

A stroke from the tee, generally a full shot made with a driver; also, the distance covered by such a stroke.

The act of driving; a trip or an excursion in a carriage, as for exercise or pleasure; - distinguished from a ride taken on horseback.

A place suitable or agreeable for driving; a road prepared for driving.

Violent or rapid motion; a rushing onward or away; esp., a forced or hurried dispatch of business.

In type founding and forging, an impression or matrix, formed by a punch drift.

A collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river.

A private road; a driveway.

A strong psychological motivation to perform some activity.

A device for reading or writing data from or to a data storage medium, as a disk drive, a tape drive, a CD drive, etc.

An organized effort by a group to accomplish a goal within a limited period of time; as, a fund-raising drive.

A physiological function of an organism motivating it to perform specific behaviors; as, the sex drive.

The period during which one team sustains movement of the ball toward the opponent's goal without losing possession of the ball; as, a long drive downfield.

An act of driving a vehicle, especially an automobile; the journey undertaken by driving an automobile; as, to go for a drive in the country.

The mechanism which causes the moving parts of a machine to move; as, a belt drive.

The way in which the propulsive force of a vehicle is transmitted to the road; as, a car with four-wheel drive, front-wheel drive, etc.

Driven.

The act of applying force to propel something;

A mechanism by which force or power is transmitted in a machine;

A series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end;

A road leading up to a private house;

The trait of being highly motivated;

Hitting a golf ball off of a tee with a driver;

The act of driving a herd of animals overland

A journey in a vehicle driven by someone else;

A physiological state corresponding to a strong need or desire

(computer science) a device that writes data onto or reads data from a storage medium

A wide scenic road planted with trees;

(sports) a hard straight return (as in tennis or squash)

Operate or control a vehicle;

Travel or be transported in a vehicle;

Cause someone or something to move by driving;

Force into or from an action or state, either physically or metaphorically;

To compel or force or urge relentlessly or exert coercive pressure on, or motivate strongly;

Cause to move back by force or influence;

Compel somebody to do something, often against his own will or judgment;

Push, propel, or press with force;

Cause to move rapidly by striking or throwing with force;

Strive and make an effort to reach a goal;

Move into a desired direction of discourse;

Have certain properties when driven;

Work as a driver;

Move by being propelled by a force;

Urge forward;

Proceed along in a vehicle;

Strike with a driver, as in teeing off;

Hit very hard and straight with the bat swinging more or less vertically;

Excavate horizontally;

Cause to function by supplying the force or power for or by controlling;

Hunting: search for game;

Hunting: chase from cover into more open ground;