obligatory, a.
(əˈblɪ-, ˈɒblɪgətərɪ)
[ad. late L. obligātōri-us, f. ppl. stem of obligāre to oblige: see -ory.]
1. Imposing obligation, binding in law or on the conscience; of the nature of an obligation; that must be done or practised. Const. on, upon († to, † of).
| 1502 Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) iii. i. 140 Also it is a thynge obligatorye. a 1626 Bacon (J.), Whether it be not obligatory to Christian princes. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. i. §14 This his confirmation of King Edward's Laws was..but a personal act..and no whit obligatory of his posterity. 1661 Boyle Style of Script. (1675) 132 Many things enacted in the Old Testament..which are not now..obligatory on us Christians. 1702 Echard Eccl. Hist. (1710) 10 They were not obligatory to other nations. 1795 Burke Regic. Peace i. Wks. VIII. 185 There are situations..in which, therefore, these duties are obligatory. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 478 The obligatory and containing power of the good is as nothing. 1888 Times (weekly ed.) 6 Apr. 16/4 A Royal decree..making it obligatory on managers of theatres in Madrid to light those buildings by electricity. |
2. Creating or constituting an obligation; esp. in writing (bill, etc.) obligatory = obligation 2.
| 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S) 182 Suppos the Capitane, wald obliss him be his lettres obligatoris. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. clxii, As the strengthe of the letter oblygatorye wytnessyd. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 246 A sufficient instrument obligatorie..for the..contentacion of the same money. 1644 Bulwer Chirol. 108 In all obligatory bargaines and pledges. 1666 J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isls 200 They commonly deliver obligatory acts to their Masters,..by which writings they oblige themselves to serve them..three years. 1691 Boyle Will Wks. 1772 I. Life 160 Whereas my servant John Warr is indebted unto me in the sum of 50l. by bond or bill obligatory. 1776 Trial of Nundocomar 23/2, I never heard of his putting his seal to obligatory papers, on which money was to be received. 1892 Daily News 30 July 5/3 The Judge decided that the fact that the document was not ‘under seal’, removed it from the legal definition of a ‘writing obligatory’. |
3. Biol. = obligate ppl. a. 2.
| 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 513 Obligatory aerobes, which must be supplied with oxygen. 1898 Ibid. V. 166 If this observation should be confirmed, the tubercle bacillus could no longer be considered an obligatory parasite. |
Hence obligatorily adv., in an obligatory manner, so as to be obligatory; obligatoriness, the quality or fact of being obligatory.
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 230 Being bound obligatorilie, both for himselfe and his successors. 1650 R. Hollingworth Exerc. Usurped Powers 28 The obligatorinesse of the Oaths and Covenant. 1755 Johnson, Indissolubly..2 For ever obligatorily. 1879 Farrar St. Paul I. 419 The obligatoriness of circumcision had at that time been less seriously impugned. 1942 Partridge Usage & Abusage 346/2 Vari-coloured and variegated are, the first obligatorily, the second preferably, to be used of or in reference to colour. 1961 Amer. Speech XXXVI. iii. 163 Postnominal modifiers can be shifted out beyond the noun obligatorily. 1975 T. P. Whitney tr. Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipel. II. iii. i. 15 Camps for forced labor were obligatorily created. |