compliant

[ kuh m-plahy-uh nt ]

/ kəmˈplaɪ ənt /

SEE MORE 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.

Nearby words

Origin of compliant

First recorded in 1635–45; comply + -ant

Related forms

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

Can be confusedcomplacent complaisant compliant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples 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 Formscompliantly 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

Word Origin and History for compliant