強(し)いて

Etymology

The て-form of the verb 強(し)いる (to force, to compel), now fixed as an adverb.

Sense 1 - forcibly

Doing something, or making someone do something, against their inclination:

• 強(し)いて〜する (to do ~ by force, to force oneself to ~)
• 強(し)いて〜させる (to force someone to ~)

It is most often negated: 強(し)いて〜必要(ひつよう)はない (there is no need to force it), 強(し)いてはいけない (you must not force it). A plain affirmative sounds stiff and literary.

Sense 2 - if pressed

Followed by a conditional, this is one of the most useful hedges in spoken Japanese:

• 強(し)いて言(い)えば (if I had to say)
• 強(し)いて挙(あ)げるなら (if I had to name one)
• 強(し)いて選(えら)ぶなら (if I had to choose)

The speaker is signalling that they have no strong preference and are answering only because they were asked, so the opinion that follows should not be weighed too heavily. Sentence-final かな or かもしれない often softens it further.

Similar words

• あえて - to do something deliberately despite the difficulty or the reasons not to; a positive choice, where 強(し)いて is closer to reluctance
• 無理(むり)やり - forcibly, by brute force; blunter and more physical than sense 1, and never used for the hedging sense