coact

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kəʊˈakt/

Etymology 1

From the participle stem of Latin cōgō.

Verb

coact (third-person singular simple present coacts, present participle coacting, simple past and past participle coacted)

1. (obsolete) To compel, constrain, force.
   • 1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC:

     The faith and service of Christ ought to be voluntary and not coacted.

Adjective

coact (comparative more coact, superlative most coact)

1. (obsolete) Forced, constrained, done under compulsion.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , vol.I, New York, 2001, p.244:

     too much solitariness […] is either coact, enforced, or else voluntary.

Etymology 2

From co- +‎ act.

Verb

coact (third-person singular simple present coacts, present participle coacting, simple past and past participle coacted)

1. (rare) To work together.

   Synonym: cooperate

References

• "coact" in the Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2007.