obligatory
Americanadjective
-
required as a matter of obligation; mandatory.
A reply is desirable but not obligatory.
-
incumbent or compulsory (usually followed by on orupon ).
duties obligatory on all.
- Synonyms:
- imperative, necessary
- Antonyms:
- voluntary
-
imposing moral or legal obligation; binding.
an obligatory promise.
-
creating or recording an obligation, as a document.
adjective
-
required to be done, obtained, possessed, etc
-
of the nature of or constituting an obligation
Other Word Forms
- nonobligatorily adverb
- nonobligatory adjective
- obligatorily adverb
- obligatoriness noun
- unobligatory adjective
Etymology
Origin of obligatory
1425–75; late Middle English < Late Latin obligātōrius binding, equivalent to Latin obligā ( re ) to bind ( obligate ) + -tōrius -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.
“Stranger Things” stretched years between seasons as its young cast aged into adulthood, returning to massive viewership, but, some critics and fans argued, with an ending that felt obligatory.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026
You, of course, get the obligatory in-tunnel DNS servers along with a kill switch to prevent data leaks.
From Salon • Mar. 27, 2026
When the fighters eventually stepped forward for the obligatory face-off, Dubois looked away first as Wardley smirked.
From BBC • Feb. 25, 2026
Mescal had done the usual “Romeo and Juliet” and “Macbeth” as a drama student, but he says it seemed obligatory for an aspiring actor to love Shakespeare.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 20, 2026
The obligatory labor meant less time to cultivate their own fields.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
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.
