show of force

noun

"show-of-force" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“show of force” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An open demonstration of power by display of a great number of people or resources.

Key facts for show of force
PropertyValue
Headwordshow of force
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “show of force” sits in English frequency

show of force falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

show of force is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An open demonstration of power by display of a great number of people or resources.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for show of force, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is show of force, spelled S-H-O-W- -O-F- -F-O-R-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    An open demonstration of power by display of a great number of people or resources.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "show of force"?
"show of force" is spelled S-H-O-W- -O-F- -F-O-R-C-E.
What does "show of force" mean?
As a noun, "show of force" means: An open demonstration of power by display of a great number of people or resources.
What language does "show of force" come from?
"show of force" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “show of force”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-H-O-W- -O-F- -F-O-R-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list