diff --git a/Doc/library/shlex.rst b/Doc/library/shlex.rst
index 2ab12f2f6f9169..24fe6e2ac18cd7 100644
--- a/Doc/library/shlex.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/shlex.rst
@@ -44,12 +44,15 @@ The :mod:`!shlex` module defines the following functions:
    .. versionadded:: 3.8
 
 
-.. function:: quote(s)
+.. function:: quote(s, *, force=False)
 
    Return a shell-escaped version of the string *s*.  The returned value is a
    string that can safely be used as one token in a shell command line, for
    cases where you cannot use a list.
 
+   If *force* is :const:`True` then *s* will be quoted even if it is already
+   safe for a shell without being quoted.
+
    .. _shlex-quote-warning:
 
    .. warning::
@@ -91,8 +94,23 @@ The :mod:`!shlex` module defines the following functions:
       >>> command
       ['ls', '-l', 'somefile; rm -rf ~']
 
+   The *force* keyword can be used to produce consistent behavior when
+   escaping multiple strings:
+
+      >>> from shlex import quote
+      >>> filenames = ['my first file', 'file2', 'file 3']
+      >>> filenames_some_escaped = [quote(f, force=False) for f in filenames]
+      >>> filenames_some_escaped
+      ["'my first file'", 'file2', "'file 3'"]
+      >>> filenames_all_escaped = [quote(f, force=True) for f in filenames]
+      >>> filenames_all_escaped
+      ["'my first file'", "'file2'", "'file 3'"]
+
    .. versionadded:: 3.3
 
+   .. versionchanged:: next
+      The *force* keyword was added.
+
 The :mod:`!shlex` module defines the following class:
 
 
diff --git a/Doc/whatsnew/3.15.rst b/Doc/whatsnew/3.15.rst
index c4dac339be66af..70996b5425a792 100644
--- a/Doc/whatsnew/3.15.rst
+++ b/Doc/whatsnew/3.15.rst
@@ -1739,6 +1739,15 @@ New deprecations
     Hugo van Kemenade in :gh:`148100`.)
 
 
+* :mod:`shlex`:
+
+  * :func:`shlex.quote` has a new keyword-only parameter *force* that ensures
+    a string will always be quoted, even if it is already safe for a shell
+    without being quoted.
+
+    (Contributed by Jay Berry in :gh:`148846`.)
+
+
 * :mod:`struct`:
 
   * Calling the ``Struct.__new__()`` without required argument now is
diff --git a/Lib/shlex.py b/Lib/shlex.py
index 5959f52dd12639..6df6ae5819c860 100644
--- a/Lib/shlex.py
+++ b/Lib/shlex.py
@@ -317,8 +317,12 @@ def join(split_command):
     return ' '.join(quote(arg) for arg in split_command)
 
 
-def quote(s):
-    """Return a shell-escaped version of the string *s*."""
+def quote(s, *, force=False):
+    """Return a shell-escaped version of the string *s*.
+
+    If *force* is *True* then *s* will be quoted even if it is
+    already safe for a shell without being quoted.
+    """
     if not s:
         return "''"
 
@@ -329,8 +333,11 @@ def quote(s):
     safe_chars = (b'%+,-./0123456789:=@'
                   b'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ_'
                   b'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz')
-    # No quoting is needed if `s` is an ASCII string consisting only of `safe_chars`
-    if s.isascii() and not s.encode().translate(None, delete=safe_chars):
+    if (not force
+        and s.isascii() and not s.encode().translate(None, delete=safe_chars)
+    ):
+        # No quoting is needed if we're not forcing quoting
+        # and `s` is an ASCII string consisting only of `safe_chars`
         return s
 
     # use single quotes, and put single quotes into double quotes
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_shlex.py b/Lib/test/test_shlex.py
index 2a355abdeeb30f..2089206a0ec1a4 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_shlex.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_shlex.py
@@ -341,6 +341,28 @@ def testQuote(self):
                              "'test%s'\"'\"'name'\"'\"''" % u)
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, shlex.quote, 42)
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, shlex.quote, b"abc")
+        # self.assertRaises(TypeError, shlex.quote, None)
+
+    def testForceQuote(self):
+        # ensure default `force` behavior does not unnecessarily quote strings
+        self.assertEqual(shlex.quote("no-quotes-needed"),
+                                     "no-quotes-needed")
+
+        # ensure `force=False` does not unnecessarily quote strings
+        self.assertEqual(shlex.quote("no-quotes-needed", force=False),
+                                     "no-quotes-needed")
+
+        # ensure `force=True` does quote strings that
+        # would not be quoted if using `force=False`
+        self.assertEqual(shlex.quote("no-quotes-needed", force=True),
+                                     "'no-quotes-needed'")
+
+        # ensure `force` does not affect outcome for strings that
+        # need quoting anyways
+        self.assertEqual(shlex.quote("quotes needed", force=False),
+                                     "'quotes needed'")
+        self.assertEqual(shlex.quote("quotes needed", force=True),
+                                     "'quotes needed'")
 
     def testJoin(self):
         for split_command, command in [
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-04-21-06-30-59.gh-issue-119670.pMWZfY.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-04-21-06-30-59.gh-issue-119670.pMWZfY.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..a0fa6c726cb66c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-04-21-06-30-59.gh-issue-119670.pMWZfY.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Add *force* keyword only argument to :func:`shlex.quote` to always quote the
+string passed to it, even if it is already safe for a shell without being
+quoted.