Compulsion
Compulsion noun - The use of power to impose one's will on another.
Desire and compulsion are semantically related. in urge topic. In some cases you can use "Desire" instead a noun "Compulsion".
Desire
Desire noun - A strong wish for something.
Usage example: a desire for adventure and excitement prompted him to travel to Africa
Compulsion and desire are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Compulsion" instead a noun "Desire".
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
How words are described
| particular | particular compulsion | particular desire |
| similar | similar compulsion | similar desire |
| common | common compulsion | common desire |
| natural | natural compulsion | natural desire |
| Other adjectives: strong, powerful, actual, constant, big, irrational, sexual, innate, new, driving, instinctive, overwhelming, greater, growing, inexplicable, strange, basic, uncontrollable, obsessive, sudden, biggest. | ||
Both words in one sentence
- However is desire to prove his genius/greatness, his compulsion for leaving riddles and playing mind games, as well as his deep feeling of under-appreciation are reverent to the Riddler of the comics.
Source: Composite Character / Film - They're limited only by the scale of the desire (an easy-to-fulfill desire would grant a geas that only lasts an hour or so) and the target's ability to resist the compulsion.
Source: Geas - Unfortunately, he was cured of the compulsion to leave clues behind, not of a desire to steal things.
Source: Chronic Villainy
Cite this Source
Desire and Compulsion. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/compulsion/desire
Compulsion & Desire. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/compulsion/desire>.
Desire or Compulsion. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/compulsion/desire.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "compulsion" and "desire" have occurred on timeline