Adjacent Words

Compulsory definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COMPULSORY, a. Having the power or quality of compelling; applying force; driving by violence; constraining.
In the correction of vicious propensities, it may be necessary to resort to compulsory measures.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: required by rule; "in most schools physical education is compulsory"; "attendance is mandatory"; "required reading" [syn: compulsory, mandatory, required]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 1581 1. mandatory, enforced <compulsory retirement> 2. coercive, compelling <compulsory measures> • compulsorily adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 required by law or a rule (it is compulsory to keep dogs on leads). 2 essential; necessary. Phrases and idioms: compulsory purchase the enforced purchase of land or property by a local authority etc., for public use. Derivatives: compulsorily adv. compulsoriness n. Etymology: med.L compulsorius (as compel)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Compulsory Com*pul"so*ry, a. [LL. compulsorius.] 1. Having the power of compulsion; constraining. 2. Obligatory; enjoined by authority; necessary; due to compulsion. This contribution threatening to fall infinitely short of their hopes, they soon made it compulsory. --Burke.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If something is compulsory, you must do it or accept it, because it is the law or because someone in a position of authority says you must. In East Germany learning Russian was compulsory... Many young men are trying to get away from compulsory military conscription. = mandatory ADJ • compulsorily Five of the company's senior managers have been made compulsorily redundant. ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Compelling, constraining, coercive. 2. Binding, obligatory, enforced, necessary, unavoidable, not to be evaded.

Moby Thesaurus

absolute, binding, choiceless, coactive, compelling, compulsatory, compulsive, conclusive, constraining, decisive, decretory, dictated, driving, entailed, exigent, final, hard-and-fast, imperative, imperious, importunate, imposed, inevitable, involuntary, irresistible, irrevocable, mandated, mandatory, must, necessary, necessitous, obligatory, peremptory, prescript, prescriptive, pressing, required, restraining, ultimate, urgent, without appeal, without choice