compulsion

Noun

• using force to cause something to occur
  • though pressed into rugby under compulsion I began to enjoy the game
    
  • they didn't have to use coercion
    

• an irrational motive for performing trivial or repetitive actions, even against your will
  • her compulsion to wash her hands repeatedly
    

• an urge to do or say something that might be better left undone or unsaid
  • he felt a compulsion to babble on about the accident
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  coercion , obsession , irresistible impulse