obligatory
/əˈblɪɡət(ə)ri
/adjective
1Required by a legal, moral, or other rule; compulsory: use of seat belts in cars is now obligatory...
- First of all, what is the statutory or obligatory requirement for rank on a disciplinary tribunal?
- While it is a fact that the Official Guide rules extra time obligatory at the end of a second draw, it also allows the League organisers to draw up their own rules before the start of such competitions.
- Being born in the US bestows US citizenship on the offspring and eliminates the obligatory military service requirement.
Synonyms
compulsory, mandatory, prescribed, required, demanded, statutory, enforced, binding, incumbent;
requisite, necessary, imperative, unavoidable, inescapable, essential
1.1(Of a ruling) having binding force: a sovereign whose laws are obligatory...
- The National Conference is the UDF supreme body - its decisions are obligatory to all UDF members.
- Neither governments nor courts have accepted the Universal Declaration as an instrument with obligatory force.
- The command gains obligatory force because it is judged worthy of obedience.
1.2often humorous So customary or fashionable as to be expected of everyone or on every occasion: it was a quiet little street with the obligatory pub at the end...
- After the old fella collecting money, we passed the old guy at the door greeting customers, with the obligatory vest, badges and balloons for the kids.
- But after the usual obligatory rejection of an initial approach, the markets expected an increase in the offer to match shareholders' higher expectations.
- Then we have the obligatory fashion section, which again, is well laid out and quite fun if you enjoy playing dress up and trying on a different identity every week.
Synonyms
customary, traditional, usual, accustomed, routine, familiar, regular, habitual;
French de rigueur
literary wonted
Derivatives
obligatorily
/ adverb ...- Where once crime novels were obligatorily set in English villages or country houses, now they crop up everywhere, like alternative guidebooks.
- They speak intimately of the value of art history for the artist; not as a dry subject, obligatorily learnt in darkened lecture theatres with projected slides, but lived art history, seen with fresh eyes, big with wonder, at great museums.
- Even nouns such as groceries and trousers, which in their referential use obligatorily appear in plural form, lack the plural inflection in compounds: a grocery store, a trouser factory.
Origin
Late Middle English: from late Latin obligatorius, from Latin obligat- 'obliged', from the verb obligare (see oblige).