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Compliance vs Compulsory - What's the difference?

compliance | compulsory |

As nouns the difference between compliance and compulsory

is that compliance is an act of complying while compulsory is something that is compulsory or required.

As an adjective compulsory is

required; obligatory; mandatory.

compliance

English

Noun

  • An act of complying.
  • (uncountable) The state of being compliant.
  • (uncountable) The tendency of conforming with or agreeing to the wishes of others.
  • A measure of the extension or displacement of a loaded structure; its flexibility
  • (medicine) The accuracy with which a patient follows an agreed treatment plan
  • (uncountable, business) the department of a business that ensures all government regulations are complied with

    • Antonyms

    *(act of complying) violation

    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. }}