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Compulsory vs Elective - What's the difference?

compulsory | elective |

As adjectives the difference between compulsory and elective

is that compulsory is required; obligatory; mandatory while elective is of, or pertaining to voting or elections.

As nouns the difference between compulsory and elective

is that compulsory is something that is compulsory or required while elective is something that is option or that may be elected, especially a course of tertiary study.

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. }}

    elective

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of, or pertaining to voting or elections
  • That involves a choice between options; optional or discretionary
    • My insurance wouldn't pay for the operation because it was elective surgery.
  • * Bancroft
    • The independent use of their elective franchise.
  • * Dryden
    • Kings of Rome were at first elective

    Related terms

    * elect * election

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Something that is option or that may be elected, especially a course of tertiary study.