Obligatory

How to spell obligatory

10 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce obligatory

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does obligatory mean?

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

Obligatory in a sentence

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

• A service charge is obligatory on tables of six or more.

Where does obligatory come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Late Latin obligatorius, meaning 'binding' or 'creating an obligation'. It was built on the verb obligare, which literally meant 'to bind toward' or 'to tie up', combining the prefix ob- ('toward, to') with ligare ('to bind, fasten, or tie'). The sense moved naturally from a physical tying to a moral or legal binding: something obligatory is something you are bound to do, as if fastened to it by duty. English took the word up in the early 1400s, partly through Old French, and it has carried its 'compulsory, required' meaning ever since. The same ligare root quietly survives in 'ligament' (the band that ties bone to bone) and in 'liable', and remembering that buried 'lig' helps fix the single G in the middle of the spelling.

How the word is built

• ob- (toward, to)
• lig (from ligare: to bind, tie)
• -atory (adjective suffix meaning relating to or causing)