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Oblige vs Mandatory - What's the difference?

oblige | mandatory |

As a verb oblige

is .

As an adjective mandatory is

obligatory; required or commanded by authority.

As a noun mandatory is

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

oblige

English

Verb

(oblig)
  • To constrain someone by force or by social, moral or legal means.
    • I am obliged to report to the police station every week.
    {{quote-Fanny Hill, part=3 , Tho' he was some time awake before me, yet did he not offer to disturb a repose he had given me so much occasion for; but on my first stirring, which was not till past ten o'clock, I was oblig'd to endure one more trial of his manhood.}}
  • To do someone a service or favour (hence, originally, creating an obligation).
    • He obliged me by not parking his car in the drive.
  • *
  • To be indebted to someone.
    • I am obliged to you for your recent help.
  • To do a service or favour.
    • The singer obliged with another song.

    Derived terms

    * disoblige

    Usage notes

    "Obliged" has largely replaced "obligate"; the latter being more common in the the 17th through 19th centuries.The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1996)

    Related terms

    * much obliged * noblesse oblige * obligate * obligation * obligatory * obligee * obligor

    Anagrams

    *

    References

    English control verbs English intransitive verbs English transitive verbs ----

    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

    *