obey
Americanverb (used with object)
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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.).
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(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)
verb
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to carry out (instructions or orders); comply with (demands)
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to behave or act in accordance with (one's feelings, whims, etc)
Other Word Forms
- obeyable adjective
- obeyer noun
- obeyingly adverb
- unobeyed adjective
- unobeying adjective
- well-obeyed adjective
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
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 better enforcement technology makes folks obey speed limits, rather than drivers suddenly wanting to drive slowly. Same thing with office attendance.”
Pointedly, there was Timothy Snyder’s tidy pocket-sized handbook “On Tyranny” filled with 20 short but fortifying chapters of practical wisdom like “Do not obey in advance,” “Defend institutions” and “Believe in truth.”
From Los Angeles Times
As an officer of the court, Judge Dugan had a special obligation to obey the law.
And when our best and bravest citizens are pushed to obey orders that they sense are wrong, the injury is compounded.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev called for an end to the violence, which he dismissed as a "provocation by the mafia", and urged everyone to obey the law.
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.
