Complying

How to spell complying

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce complying

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does complying mean?

1. verbActing in accordance with a rule, request, or set of standards.

Complying in a sentence

• The factory avoided fines by complying with the new safety regulations.

• Complying with the audit meant handing over three years of records.

Where does complying come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin complere, meaning 'to fill up' or 'to fulfil', and it reached English in the late 1500s by way of the Italian complire and Spanish cumplir, both of which meant 'to fulfil, to complete a courtesy'. In its earliest English use, to comply meant to be obliging or to fulfil the rituals of politeness, a sense quite close to 'complete'. Over the 1600s the meaning narrowed to the modern idea of acting in accordance with a request, rule, or wish. The 'ply' element shares an ancestry with words like 'complement' and 'accomplish', all carrying the notion of filling out or completing something. When the -ing ending is added, the base 'comply' keeps its y intact, which is the small spelling point worth remembering, since the y does not change to ie.

How the word is built

• com- (together, fully)
• ply (from Latin plere/plicare: to fill or fold)
• -ing (present participle suffix)