mandatory

¹man·da·to·ry

adj \ˈman-də-ˌtȯr-ē\

Definition of MANDATORY

1

: containing or constituting a command : 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

Examples of MANDATORY

1. <the tests are mandatory for all students wishing to graduate>
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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

Origin of MANDATORY

(see ¹mandate)

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to MANDATORY

Synonyms: compulsory, forced, imperative, incumbent, involuntary, necessary, nonelective, obligatory, peremptory, required

Antonyms: elective, optional, voluntary

Related Words: all-important, essential, indispensable, needed, requisite; insistent, persistent, pressing, urgent; demanded, enforced; coercive

Near Antonyms: chosen, discretionary; dispensable, unnecessary, unneeded, unwanted; inconsequential, insignificant, nonessential, unimportant

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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