dutiful
/ˈdjuːtɪfʊl
/ /ˈdjuːtɪf(ə)l/adjective
1Conscientiously or obediently fulfilling one’s duty: a dutiful daughter...
- With Mimi he was expected to be neatly groomed, dutiful and obedient.
- And the only women in the celestial kingdom will be those dutiful, obedient plural wives who are invited there by their husbands to serve them for all eternity.
- I think somewhere you got this notion that a wife was dutiful and obedient.
Synonyms
conscientious, responsible, dedicated, devoted, faithful, loyal, attentive;
obedient, compliant, pliant, docile, submissive, biddable, deferential, reverent, reverential, respectful, good, well disciplined, well trained
British informal decent
rare regardful
1.1Motivated by duty rather than desire or enthusiasm: dutiful applause a dutiful visit...
- Long before the end the atmosphere had gone from the place, the final whistle greeted by dutiful cheers rather than raw passion.
- A historical novel, it is no dutiful trudge - rather an artful waka, rowing fast and with purpose.
- Its clergy, in the main, were neither piously devoted nor scandalously negligent, but were generally dutiful if rather unambitious pastors.
Derivatives
dutifulness
/ /ˈdjuːtɪf(ə)lnəs / noun ...- The message their joyless dutifulness sends to children couldn't be clearer: you are a burden, you are sucking the life out of me, but - ‘in my heart’ - I love you.
- Its proponents may even extend the hypothesis that one reason for this is, ironically, the very longevity of our present monarch and her mother, and their unquestioned dutifulness (which some call dullness).
- In fact, this aura of dutifulness, rather than ego gratification, may be one of the reasons that he seems popular among his staff - something unusual for most ego-charged media executives.