[f. as prec. + -NESS.] Coercive quality.
1727–31. Bailey, vol. II. Coerciveness, compulsiveness.
1775. in Ash.
1879. H. Spencer, Data Ethics, vii. 126. The element of coerciveness … originates from experience of those several forms of restraints.
1889. W. S. Lilly, in Contemp. Rev., Oct., 594. In the Spencerian doctrine, then, conscience with its authoritativeness and coerciveness is not the formal principle and rule of ethics.
