Definition

Verb: 1. To feed someone who is unwilling or unable to eat: The act of making a person or animal consume food, often through a tube or other means, when they cannot or will not eat voluntarily.

Usage

• This verb is typically used in medical, caregiving, or protest contexts.
• It is a transitive verb, requiring a direct object (the person or animal being fed).
• The past tense and past participle are force-fed.

Examples

• The medical team had to force-feed the patient through a nasogastric tube after the surgery.
• The zookeepers were forced to force-feed the sick animal to ensure its survival.
• The authorities were accused of choosing to force-feed the hunger strikers.

Advanced Usage

• Figurative Use: Can be used metaphorically to mean making someone accept or endure large amounts of information, ideas, or propaganda against their will.
  • The students complained that the professor was trying to force-feed them complex theories without proper explanation.

Variants and Related Words

• Force-feeding (noun): The act or process of force-feeding.
  • The force-feeding of prisoners is a controversial practice.

Synonyms

• Tube-feed: To supply nutrition via a tube, often in a medical context.
• Compel to eat: A more general phrase describing the action.

Phrasal Verbs

• Not applicable for this specific verb form.

Related Idioms

• Not applicable. The term itself functions as a specific, literal action.

Verb

1. feed someone who will not or cannot eat