日本語道場 — Nihongo Dojo

～を強いられる

~o shiirareru

is forced to

When to use it

Use ～を強いられる in formal writing and reporting to say that circumstances or a stronger party compelled an unwanted action on the subject. It carries a clear note of hardship or unfairness, so it suits reports on market pressure, negotiations, restructuring, and labor conditions. In business documents it often lets you assign blame to conditions rather than to a person.

Formation

Noun + を強いられる — the core pattern; the noun is normally an action/state noun (譲歩・撤退・我慢・犠牲・苦戦・残業・選択).
Verb (dictionary form) + ことを強いられる — used when no suitable noun exists: 「辞任することを強いられた」.
i-adjective / na-adjective — do not attach directly; nominalize first (例:不便な生活を強いられる).
Active form is ～に…を強いる (「取引先に値下げを強いた」); the agent, when stated, is marked with に or によって.
Frequently seen as 強いられている (ongoing situation) and 強いられた (in reports of past events).

Examples

The weak yen forced us into a major price revision.
Poor sales of our flagship product are forcing us to scale back operations.
In these negotiations we were forced into one-sided concessions.
Staff cuts forced the front line into long hours of overtime.
The end of the partnership forced us to withdraw from the business.