First Known Use: 15th century
Dictionary
1mandatory
adjective man·da·to·ry \ˈman-də-ˌtȯr-ē\
: required by a law or rule
Full Definition of MANDATORY
1
: required by a law or rule : obligatory <the mandatory retirement age>
2
: of, by, relating to, or holding a League of Nations mandate
— man·da·tor·i·ly \-ˌtȯr-ə-lē\ adverb
See mandatory defined for English-language learners
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Examples of MANDATORY
- Parents object to the mandatory nature of the shots—and the fact that their child's access to education hinges on compliance with the immunization regulations. —Alice Park, Time, 2 June 2008
- In a move some are calling a “backdoor draft,” the Pentagon has announced it will issue mandatory recalls to more than 5,600 Army troops for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. —Nathaniel Frank, Washington Post, 12 July 2004
- At the same time, the 1987 repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, which ended mandatory balanced coverage of politics, gave birth to talk radio, and the television universe splintered between the old networks and the new culture of cable gladiators in which opinion was more entertaining than information and cheaper to produce as well. —Nancy Gibbs, Time, 27 September 2004
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Origin of MANDATORY
(see 1mandate)
Related to MANDATORY
- Synonyms
- compulsory, forced, imperative, incumbent, involuntary, necessary, nonelective, obligatory, peremptory, required
Rhymes with MANDATORY
a priori, allegory, amatory, auditory, bedtime story, cacciatore, castratory, category, con amore, cover story, crematory, damnatory, decretory, dilatory, dormitory, excretory, expletory, feudatory, fumitory, Göteborg, gustatory, gyratory, horror story, hortatory, hunky-dory, inventory, laudatory, lavatory, migratory, minatory, monitory, Montessori, morning glory, nugatory, offertory, oratory, overstory, piscatory, precatory, predatory, prefatory, probatory, promissory, promontory, purgatory, repertory, Ruwenzori, signatory, statutory, sudatory, territory, transitory, understory, vibratory, vomitory, yakitori
2mandatory
noun man·da·to·ry \ˈman-də-ˌtȯr-ē\
plural man·da·to·ries
Definition of MANDATORY
Origin of MANDATORY
(see 1mandate)
First Known Use: 1661
MANDATORILY Defined for Kids
mandatory
adjective man·da·tory \ˈman-də-ˌtȯr-ē\
Definition of MANDATORY for Kids
: required by law or by a command <Student attendance is mandatory.>
Word Root of MANDATORY
The Latin word mandāre, meaning “to commit” or “to order,” gives us the root mand. Words from the Latin mandāre have something to do with committing or ordering. When a task is mandatory, someone has ordered that it must be done. To command is to order someone to do something. A mandate is an order from an authority to follow specific instructions.
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