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Mandatory vs Preferable - What's the difference?

mandatory | preferable |

As adjectives the difference between mandatory and preferable

is that mandatory is obligatory; required or commanded by authority while preferable is preferable.

As a noun mandatory

is (dated|rare) a person, organisation or state who receives a mandate; a mandatary.

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.

    • External links

    * * * Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary * The Oxford English Dictionary

    Anagrams

    *

    preferable

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Better than some other option; preferred.
  • *

    • Derived terms

    * preferably