obey
Americanverb (used with object)
-
obeys,
present (3rd person singular)
-
obeyed,
past participle, past
-
obeying
present participle
-
to comply with or follow the commands, restrictions, wishes, or instructions of.
to obey one's parents.
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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.
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to submit or conform in action to (some guiding principle, impulse, one's conscience, etc.).
verb (used without object)
-
obeys,
present (3rd person singular)
-
obeyed,
past participle, past
-
obeying
present participle
verb
-
to carry out (instructions or orders); comply with (demands)
-
to behave or act in accordance with (one's feelings, whims, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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obeyernoun
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obeyableadjective
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unobeyedadjective
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unobeyingadjective
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well-obeyedadjective
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obeyinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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obeysimple
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obeyssimple
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have obeyedperfect
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has obeyedperfect
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am obeyingprogressive
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are obeyingprogressive
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is obeyingprogressive
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have been obeyingperfect progressive
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has been obeyingperfect progressive
Past
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obeyedsimple
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had obeyedperfect
-
was obeyingprogressive
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were obeyingprogressive
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had been obeyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of obey
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English obeien, from Old French obeir, from Latin oboedīre, equivalent to ob- ob- + audīre “to hear”; -oe- for expected -ū- is unclear
Explanation
When you obey, you follow someone's rules or instructions. In the old days, all of a monarchy's citizens were expected to obey the commands of their king or queen. You might be expected to obey the rules your strict parents lay down, or to obey the guidelines of a group or club you belong to. Religious Christians obey God, and soldiers obey the direct orders their commanding officers give them. To obey is to be obedient, and both words come from the Latin obedire, which literally means "listen to," but is used to mean "pay attention to."
Vocabulary lists containing obey
"Nadia the Willful"
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"Rachel the Clever"
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"The New England Primer"
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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.
See Examples For:
They want safe streets and drivers of all vehicles to obey the law or pay a price.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
“The pro-slavery factions were picking on specific verses like ‘slaves obey your masters’ and saying, ‘Well, we’re clearly advancing the more biblical society because look, the Bible says exactly what we’re doing,’” Coffman said.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
The results indicate that the local geometric components of spacetime obey a version of the first law of thermodynamics.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
"Australia's world-leading social media laws are not failing. But big tech is failing to obey the laws," Communications Minister Anika Wells said at the time.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
She had the power to make the Shetani obey her; she’d done it once before.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
In other words, the deal appears to strike a balance that will ensure the university obeys the law without coercive overreach.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
He added that he "obeys the government and will pay it" as he didn't know the repayment was not legally required.
From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2025
Min-sung obeys Young-tak to ensure access to resources, but at home Myung-hwa can’t hide her disappointment in him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2023
Quantum mechanics background: All the matter in the universe obeys the laws of quantum theory, but we only really observe quantum behaviour at the scale of atoms and molecules.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 4, 2023
“Rule thy passion, for unless it obeys, it rules you.”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
The broader biographical facts are obeyed, but “Amadeus” is fundamentally ahistorical, and sometimes implausible: It is to be trusted only as television.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
But it was PSG who obeyed the message, delivering a third-minute hammer blow when Georgian genius Khvicha Kvaratskhelia raced down the wing before setting up Ousmane Dembele to lash a finish high past Manuel Neuer.
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
He obeyed and burned the project files in a bonfire on the beach.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026
When calculating probabilities with Bayes' rule, the principle of minimum change is obeyed.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2025
The servants obeyed her orders still, the food we ate was the food she liked.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
Mohamed says the most important thing is to follow Japan's rules, including sorting refuse properly, obeying parking laws, and wearing helmets when riding your bicycle.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
It reenacts the Prophet Abraham's stoning of the devil at three places where Satan is said to have tried to dissuade him from obeying God's command to sacrifice his son Ishmael.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
However, the Nuremberg tribunals after World War II established in international law that obeying an unlawful order does not absolve an individual of responsibility for atrocities.
From Slate ● Dec. 3, 2025
What about the risks of obeying an unlawful order?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025
She went to stir a pot on the hearth, and the dog lay down near the doorway, obeying the command of her hand.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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.
