compliant

[ kuh m-plahy-uh nt ]

/ kəmˈplaɪ ənt /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR compliant ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

complying; obeying, obliging, or yielding, especially in a submissive way: a man with a compliant nature.

manufactured or produced in accordance with a specified body of rules (usually used in combination): Energy Star-compliant computers.

QUIZZES

CAN YOU ACE THIS QUIZ ABOUT “COMPLIMENT” VS. “COMPLEMENT”?

Take this quiz to see if you really know the difference between “compliment” and “complement"!

Question 1 of 11

“Compliment” and “complement” had a shared meaning a long time ago, but today they are no longer interchangeable.

True

False

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Origin of compliant

First recorded in 1635–45; comply + -ant

OTHER WORDS FROM compliant

com·pli·ant·ly, adverbo·ver·com·pli·ant, adjectivepre·com·pli·ant, adjectivequa·si-com·pli·ant, adjective

qua·si-com·pli·ant·ly, adverbun·com·pli·ant, adjectiveun·com·pli·ant·ly, adverb

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH compliant

complacent complaisant compliant

Words nearby compliant

complexone, compliable, compliance, compliance officer, compliancy, compliant, complicacy, complicate, complicated, complication, complice

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for compliant

The problem is, for this doctrine to succeed, the world must be compliant.
Blame The Obama Doctrine For Iraq|Stuart Gottlieb|June 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But the compliant reports that Loewen was ready for action a week later.
Terry Lee Loewen, the Mellow Kansas Man Who Dreamed of Jihad|Michael Daly|December 16, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Financial firms want less regulation and defanged or compliant regulators.
Mystery Solved: Here’s Why Big Business Keeps Supporting Republicans Even as Republicans Destroy the Economy|Daniel Gross|October 3, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Chávez was a master at keeping his allies and potential rivals off balance and compliant.
Hugo Chávez’s House of Cards|Mac Margolis|March 7, 2013|DAILY BEAST

Firearms manufacturers simply found easy ways around the ban by marketing “compliant” weapons.
Another Massacre’s Gun Law Lesson, From Stockton, Calif., Survivors|Michael Daly|December 21, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Where is room now for anything but fear and trembling—a deep anxiety to be lowly, obedient, compliant?
The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Philippians|Robert Rainy
We laboured under the impression that you were to be compliant as best suits the love we have ever borne to your community.
Great Masters in Painting: Perugino|George C. Williamson
The latter are very humble and compliant to whatever his Lordship should order.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 (Vol 28 of 55)|Various
Indolent, and in compliant mood, with languid curiosity and half an hour to spare, we assented.
Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Second Series|John Addington Symonds
For James clung with a desperate tenacity to the hope of finding a compliant Parliament.
History of the English People, Volume VII (of 8)|John Richard Green

British Dictionary definitions for compliant

compliant

compliable

/ (kəmˈplaɪənt) /

adjective

complying, obliging, or yielding

Derived forms of compliant

compliantly or compliably, adverbcompliantness or compliableness, 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

compliant

adjective

QUIZZES

CAN YOU ACE THIS QUIZ ABOUT “COMPLIMENT” VS. “COMPLEMENT”?

Origin of compliant

OTHER WORDS FROM compliant

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH compliant

Words nearby compliant

Words related to compliant

Example sentences from the Web for compliant

British Dictionary definitions for compliant

compliable

adjective

Derived forms of compliant