Mandatory

How to spell mandatory

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce mandatory

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mandatory mean?

1. adjectiveRequired by law or by a rule; compulsory rather than optional.

Mandatory in a sentence

• Attendance at the safety briefing is mandatory for all new staff.

• The court imposed a mandatory minimum sentence for the offence.

Where does mandatory come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb mandare, meaning 'to command' or 'to entrust', which itself was built from manus 'hand' and dare 'to give', so that the literal sense was to place something in someone's hand or to commit it to their care. From mandare came the noun mandatum, an order or commission, the same root that gives English the word 'mandate'. The adjective mandatory appeared in English in the late 1500s, first describing something conveyed by way of a mandate or command, and later settling into its modern meaning of 'required, compulsory, not optional'. The everyday spelling trap lies in the ending: writers expect '-itory' by analogy with words like 'territory', but the correct form keeps the 'a' of mandate, giving '-atory'. Remembering that mandatory is simply mandate plus '-ory' helps fix that vowel in place.

How the word is built

• mand (from mandare: to command, to entrust)
• -atory (adjective suffix: relating to or having the character of)