obligatory
English
Etymology
From Middle English obligatorie, from Latin obligatōrius.
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /əˈblɪɡətɔɹi/, /ˈɑblɪɡətɔɹi/
- (UK) IPA(key): /əˈblɪɡət(ə)ɹi/
Audio (UK) (file)
Adjective
obligatory (comparative more obligatory, superlative most obligatory)
- Imposing obligation, legally, morally, or otherwise; binding; mandatory.
- an obligatory promise
- 1673, Richard Baxter, Christian Directory
- […] if he speak the words of an oath in a strange language, thinking they signify something else, or if he spake in his sleep, or deliration, or distraction, it is no oath, and so not obligatory.
- 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 12:
- [I]t was something that every schoolboy of my generation almost `had' to do, as obligatory a proof of impending manliness as scrumping apples or pulling girls' pigtails.
- Requiring a matter or obligation.
Synonyms
- bounden
- mandatory
Antonyms
- optional
Related terms
- obligate
- obligated
- obligation
- obligational
- obligato
- obligatorily
- oblige
- obligee
- obliger
- obliging
- obligingly
- obligingness
- obligor
Translations
binding — See also translations at mandatory, compulsory
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Further reading
- obligatory in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
Middle English
Adjective
obligatory
- Alternative form of obligatorie