obligatory

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: ob=lig=a=to=ry

CIDE DICTIONARY

obligatory, a. [L. obligatorius: cf. F. obligatoire.].

 Binding in law or conscience; imposing duty or obligation; requiring performance or forbearance of some act; -- often followed by on or upon; as, obedience is obligatory on a soldier.  [1913 Webster]
"As long as the law is obligatory, so long our obedience is due."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

obligatory, adj.
1 legally or morally binding.
2 compulsory and not merely permissive.
3 constituting an obligation.

Derivative

obligatorily adv.

Etymology

ME f. LL obligatorius (as OBLIGE)

THESAURUS

obligatory

absolute, binding, choiceless, compulsory, conclusive, de rigueur, decisive, decretory, demanded, dictated, entailed, essential, exigent, final, hard-and-fast, imperative, imperious, importunate, imposed, incumbent, indispensable, inevitable, involuntary, irrevocable, mandated, mandatory, must, necessary, necessitous, peremptory, prescript, prescriptive, required, requisite, ultimate, urgent, without appeal, without choice

ROGET THESAURUS

obligatory

Compulsion

N compulsion, coercion, coaction, constraint, duress, enforcement, press, conscription, force, brute force, main force, physical force, the sword, ultima ratio, club law, lynch law, mob law, arguementum baculinum, le droit du plus fort, martial law, restraint, necessity, force majeure, Hobson's choice, compelling, coercive, coactive, inexorable, compulsory, compulsatory, obligatory, stringent, peremptory, forcible, not to be trifled with, irresistible, compelled, fain to, by force, by force of arms, on compulsion, perforce, vi et armis, under the lash, at the point of the sword, at the point of the bayonet, forcibly, by a strong arm, under protest, in spite of one's teeth, against one's will, nolens volens, by stress of circumstances, by stress of weather, under press of, de rigueur, with a gun to one's head, I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.

Duty

N duty, what ought to be done, moral obligation, accountableness, liability, onus, responsibility, bounden duty, imperative duty, call, call of duty, accountability, allegiance, fealty, tie engagement, part, function, calling, morality, morals, decalogue, case of conscience, conscientiousness, conscience, inward monitor, still small voice within, sense of duty, tender conscience, superego, the hell within, dueness, propriety, fitness, seemliness, amenability, decorum, to prepon, the thing, the proper thing, the right thing to do, the proper thing to do, ethics, ethology, deontology, aretology, moral philosophy, ethical philosophy, casuistry, polity, observance, fulfillment, discharge, performance, acquittal, satisfaction, redemption, good behavior, obligatory, binding, imperative, peremptory, stringent, behooving, incumbent on, chargeable on, under obligation, obliged by, bound by, tied by, saddled with, due to, beholden to, bound to, indebted to, tied down, compromised, in duty bound, amenable, liable, accountable, responsible, answerable, right, meet, moral, ethical, casuistical, conscientious, ethological, with a safe conscience, as in duty, bound, on one's own responsibility, at one's own risk, suo periculo, in foro conscientiae, quamdiu se bene gesserit, dura lex sed lex, dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, honos habet onus, leve fit quod bene fertur onus, loyaute m'oblige, simple duty bath no place for fear, stern daughter of the voice of God, there is a higher law than the Constitution.