mandatory
Americanadjective
-
authoritatively ordered; obligatory; compulsory.
It is mandatory that all students take two years of math.
-
pertaining to, of the nature of, or containing a command.
-
Law. permitting no option; not to be disregarded or modified.
a mandatory clause.
-
having received a mandate, as a nation.
noun
plural
mandatoriesadjective
-
having the nature or powers of a mandate
-
obligatory; compulsory
-
(of a state) having received a mandate over some territory
noun
Other Word Forms
- mandatorily adverb
- nonmandatory adjective
- unmandatory adjective
Etymology
Origin of mandatory
From the Late Latin word mandātōrius, dating back to 1655–65. See mandate, -tory 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The 66-year-old has been criticised for staying on as general secretary past the organisation's mandatory retirement age of 63.
From BBC
The car was awaiting mandatory maintenance and was not being actively used by department personnel at the time of discovery, according to the release.
From Los Angeles Times
ExpressVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands, a jurisdiction that does not have mandatory data retention laws and is well outside the Five/Nine/Fourteen Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance.
From Salon
Surfshark, also headquartered in Amsterdam, benefits from strong privacy protections and no mandatory data retention laws.
From Salon
American reserve driver Jak Crawford, completing one of the team's mandatory young driver days, was in Fernando Alonso's car and was 22nd, just over a second slower than Lance Stroll.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
