Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Coercive \Co*er"cive\, a.
   Serving or intended to coerce; having power to constrain. --
   {Co*er"cive*ly}, adv. -- Co*er"cive*ness, n.

         Coercive power can only influence us to outward
         practice.                                --Bp.
                                                  Warburton.

   {Coercive} or {Coercitive force} (Magnetism), the power or
      force which in iron or steel produces a slowness or
      difficulty in imparting magnetism to it, and also
      interposes an obstacle to the return of a bar to its
      natural state when active magnetism has ceased. It plainly
      depends on the molecular constitution of the metal.
      --Nichol.

            The power of resisting magnetization or
            demagnization is sometimes called coercive force.
                                                  --S. Thompson.