obey
to comply with or follow the commands, restrictions, wishes, or instructions of: to obey one's parents.
to comply with or follow (a command, restriction, wish, instruction, etc.).
(of things) to respond conformably in action to: The car obeyed the slightest touch of the steering wheel.
to submit or conform in action to (some guiding principle, impulse, one's conscience, etc.).
to be obedient: to agree to obey.
Origin of obey
1Other words from obey
- o·bey·a·ble, adjective
- o·bey·er, noun
- o·bey·ing·ly, adverb
- un·o·beyed, adjective
- un·o·bey·ing, adjective
- well-o·beyed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use obey in a sentence
If the group obeys the law, authorities could harass “foreign agents,” the activists believe.
Russia Uses ‘Foreign Agent’ Ruse to Crack Down on Memorial & Other NGOs | Anna Nemtsova | November 24, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThe good to all that is there represented as due, ought to be done not less to the individual who obeys, than to others.
The Ordinance of Covenanting | John CunninghamUniversal gravitation, invisible force, which the visible universe (what we call matter) obeys.
Urania | Camille FlammarionIn this dear child everything obeys the same impulse, everything develops visibly, and nothing is injured.
The Seven Cardinal Sins: Envy and Indolence | Eugne SueShe accepts moral truth without waiting for a demonstration, and she obeys the law founded upon it without being its slave.
Thoughts on Educational Topics and Institutions | George S. Boutwell
The scrivener did look up accordingly, with the action of an automaton which suddenly obeys the impulse of a pressed spring.
The Fortunes of Nigel | Sir Walter Scott
British Dictionary definitions for obey
/ (əˈbeɪ) /
to carry out (instructions or orders); comply with (demands)
to behave or act in accordance with (one's feelings, whims, etc)
Origin of obey
1Derived forms of obey
- obeyer, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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