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Obligate vs Liable - What's the difference?

obligate | liable |

As adjectives the difference between obligate and liable

is that obligate is (biology) able to exist or survive only in a particular environment or by assuming a particular role while liable is bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; answerable.

As a verb obligate

is (transitive|north america|scottish) to bind, compel, constrain, or oblige by a social, legal, or moral tie.

obligate

English

(wikipedia obligate)

Verb

(obligat)
  • (transitive, North America, Scottish) To bind, compel, constrain, or oblige by a social, legal, or moral tie.
  • (transitive, North America, Scottish) To cause to be grateful or indebted; to oblige.
  • (transitive, North America, Scottish) To commit (money, for example) in order to fulfill an obligation.

    • Usage notes

    In non-legal usage, almost exclusively used in the passive, in form “obligated' to X” where ‘X’ is a verb infinitive or noun phrase, as in “'''obligated to pay”. Further, it is now only in standard use in American English and some dialects such as Scottish,''Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage,'' p. 675 having disappeared from standard British English by the 20th century, being replaced by obliged (it was previously used in the 17th through 19th centuries).''The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1996)

    Synonyms

    * See also:

    Derived terms

    * obligation * obligatory

    References

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (biology) Able to exist or survive only in a particular environment or by assuming a particular role.
    • an obligate''' parasite; an '''obligate anaerobe.
  • Absolutely indispensable; essential.

    • Related terms

    * oblige * obligee * obligor ----

    liable

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; answerable.
    • The surety is liable for the debt of his principal.
  • * 1748 . David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 34.
    • The passion for philosophy, like that for religion, seems liable to this inconvenience
  • Exposed to a certain contingency or casualty, more or less probable.
  • Likely.
    • Someone is liable to slip on your icy sidewalk.

    Related terms

    * liability * reliable

    Anagrams

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