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Something mandatory is the result of a mandate or order, which usually comes in the form of a law, rule, or regulation. Today there seem to be a lot of these mandates, so mandatory seat belts, mandatory inspections for industries, and mandatory prison sentences for violent crimes are regularly in the news. But mandatory retirement at age 65, which used to be common, is now illegal in most cases.
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Examples of mandatory in a Sentence
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 Sept. 2004
the tests are mandatory for all students wishing to graduate
Joel Rose, NPR, 24 Apr. 2024
The second rule also bars airlines from advertising artificially low prices that don't factor in mandatory fees.
—Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 24 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for mandatory 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mandatory.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Mandatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mandatory. Accessed 4 May. 2024.
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mandatory
adjective
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