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Mandatory vs Directory - What's the difference?

mandatory | directory |

As adjectives the difference between mandatory and directory

is that mandatory is obligatory; required or commanded by authority while directory is containing directions; instructing; directorial.

As nouns the difference between mandatory and directory

is that mandatory is a person, organisation or state who receives a mandate; a mandatary while directory is a list of names, addresses etc, of specific classes of people or organizations, often in alphabetical order or in some classification.

mandatory

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Obligatory; required or commanded by authority.
  • Attendance at a school is usually mandatory .
  • * 1999 , Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen, Figments of Reality: The Evolution of the Curious Mind , page 276
  • This kind of immediate control structure we take to be characteristic of the tribe, and it leads to a rather rigid type of system in which 'every action not mandatory is forbidden'.
  • Of, being or relating to a mandate.
  • Mandatory Palestine

    Synonyms

    * compulsory * obligatory

    Antonyms

    * (obligatory) optional * (obligatory) elective

    Derived terms

    * mandatoriness

    Noun

    (mandatories)
  • (dated, rare) A person, organisation or state who receives a mandate; a mandatary.
  • Anagrams

    *

    directory

    Noun

    (directories)
  • A list of names, addresses etc, of specific classes of people or organizations, often in alphabetical order or in some classification.
  • (computing) A structured listing of the names and characteristics of the files on a storage device.
  • (computing) A virtual container in a computer's file system, in which files and other directories may be stored. The files and subdirectories in a directory are usually related.
  • Synonyms

    * (structured listing)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Containing directions; instructing; directorial.