The Articulate Professional online!

- Helping executives extend the reach and impact of their communications since 1993

Dragoon

printer friendly format

(pronounced druh-goon or drag-oon)  verb

Definition

1. to subdue or persecute by use of troops.  2. to force somebody into doing something (by violent or oppressive measures, threats, etc.); coerce; compel.

Main Example

• Some members of NATO, most notably Germany, Spain, and Italy, are not carrying their fair share of the burden of fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Their forces are relatively small and positioned in the peaceful northern regions of Afghanistan. With the Taliban now resurgent, the Pentagon has been trying to dragoon these resistant NATO states into enlarging their contingents and moving them into the riskier, violence-wracked southern areas of Afghanistan.

Workplace Examples

• When we saw how anemic the attendance for the guest speaker promised to be, many of us went over to the cafeteria, as well as to some of the cubicle areas, to literally dragoon employees into dropping whatever they were doing and come to the auditorium.
• The club president's position is pretty stressful! I just don't think that Liz, our current president, will accept another term. If I recall correctly, last year she had to be dragooned into taking on this job.

Other Examples

• a colleague being unsuccessful in dragooning you into helping with a tedious project
• somebody who hates wearing a suit being dragooned into donning one for a crucial customer meeting
• during the U.S.-France slugfest just before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, each of the two antagonists trying to dragoon the half dozen fence-sitters on the Security Council into supporting its stand
• the sensational case reported earlier this year about some evildoers in Northern India who were successfully dragooning poor people into undergoing surgery for minor ailments, then harvesting their kidneys while they were unconscious

© 2008 V.J. Singal

This Month's Other Words

Products to sharply enhance your vocabulary:

Now available on CD-ROM: Past editions of Words of the Month.
Click here for more information.
The Articulate Professional (1995 revised ed.) is also available.
Place an order or click here for testimonials attesting to its effectiveness as a vocabulary-building tool.
Now get the CD-ROM and the book for only $34. Order now!

*Price includes tax & shipping in US/Canada.

Copyright © 1999 - 2008 by V.J. Singal. Articulate is a registered trademark.
Questions or comments may be sent directly to the author.
Phone: 281-463-2500, P.O. Box 841155, Houston, TX 77284-1155