SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
obligatory
adjective
Required by a rule, duty, or established expectation.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Required
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topObligatory can arise from duty or convention as well as law; incumbent commonly takes on a named person.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See obligatory in use
Attendance at the introductory safety session was obligatory for new volunteers.
In a fictional college equipment room, signing out borrowed cameras was obligatory under the department's current rules.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license