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Accountable vs Compulsory - What's the difference?

accountable | compulsory |

As adjectives the difference between accountable and compulsory

is that accountable is having accountability (individuals have accountability); answerable while compulsory is required; obligatory; mandatory.

As a noun compulsory is

something that is compulsory or required.

accountable

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Having accountability (individuals have accountability); answerable.
  • Requiring accountability (property or funds require accountability).
  • Liable to be called on to render an account;
  • Being answerable for.
  • Being liable for.
  • (rare) Capable of being accounted for; explicable; explainable.
  • *

    • Synonyms

    * amenable, responsible, liable, answerable

    See also

    * hold to account

    compulsory

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Required; obligatory; mandatory.
  • * 1827 , A. D. Jr., Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal , A. and C. Black, page 212:
    • They are entirely private concerns, established by individual teachers, and attendance upon them is no more compulsory than attendance on our dispensaries.
  • * 1996 , (Ugo Pagano), Democracy and Efficiency in the Economic Enterprise , page 73:
    • Some might agree that membership in the firm is perhaps more compulsory than membership in a municipality, but balk at applying the analogy to the nation.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)
    • , volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Finland spreads word on schools , passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}}
  • Having the power of compulsion; constraining.

    • Synonyms

    * mandatory

    Antonyms

    * (required) optional

    Noun

    (compulsories)
  • Something that is compulsory or required.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2008, date=March 22, author=The Associated Press, title=French Victory in Ice Dance, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=Delobel and Schoenfelder failed to win the free dance, but they had built a big lead in the compulsories and the original dance. }}