This chapter disentangles the intertwined notions of ‘sanction’, ‘coercion’ and ‘force’, arguing that whether these notions are synonyms or related (and, if so, to what extent) has to do with hermeneutical presuppositions that are often ignored or neglected. Accordingly, these multiple views and consequent disagreements on sanctions have to do with their unidimensional preconceptions. Thus, the use of a multidimensional approach is advocated in order to assess and more comprehensively explain sanctions. By acknowledging that sanctions may refer to different pluralisms such as agents, contexts, realms and modes of existence, the chapter concludes that we are able to discern amongst sanctions and, in turn, distinguish sanction, coercion and force, their different yet related meanings and natures and their significance to law.