mandatory

adjective

man·da·to·ry | \ ˈman-də-ˌtȯr-ē

Definition of mandatory

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : required by a law or rule : obligatory the mandatory retirement age

2 : of, by, relating to, or holding a League of Nations mandate

mandatory

noun

man·da·to·ry | \ ˈman-də-ˌtȯr-ē

plural mandatories

Definition of mandatory (Entry 2 of 2)

: one given a mandate especially : a nation holding a mandate from the League of Nations

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Examples of mandatory in a Sentence

Adjective

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 Sept. 2004 the tests are mandatory for all students wishing to graduate

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

Other clubs have held on to the idea of mandatory membership. — Candace Taylor, WSJ, "Golf-Home Owners Find Themselves in a Hole," 10 Jan. 2019 Additionally, mandatory programs including Medicare are due to keep running, though new sign-ups could see some delay. — Li Zhou, Vox, "Wednesday is day 5 of a partial government shutdown. It could go on for a while.," 26 Dec. 2018 Cleaning kit File this one under absolutely mandatory. — Brent Rose, The Verge, "How to build a camera kit for adventure photography," 20 Nov. 2018 The third issue was the matter of mandatory impartial investigations at the beginning of any probe into claims. — Lucy Diavolo, Teen Vogue, "Members of Congress Can Pay Sexual Harassment Settlements With Taxpayer Dollars, but That Could Change," 13 Dec. 2018 The museum imposed mandatory admission fees for out-of-state visitors this past spring, after decades of a universal pay-as-you-wish policy, which generated noisy pushback. — Sarah Medford, WSJ, "Daniel and Estrellita Brodsky Dreamed of a Modern Home in a Pastoral Setting," 11 Dec. 2018 The ultimate cool girl came on the scene in 2003, long before social media and celebrity connections became mandatory for new faces. — Janelle Okwodu, Vogue, "15 Reasons Why Daria Werbowy Remains the Ultimate Model Muse," 22 Nov. 2018 Fare transparency: Airlines will still have to advertise the entire price of the ticket, including mandatory fees and taxes, preserving a rule that the airlines have fought to repeal ever since it was implemented in 2012. — Barbara Peterson, Condé Nast Traveler, "How the New FAA Bill Will Affect Air Travelers," 24 Sep. 2018 Meanwhile, the Janus ruling could give momentum to efforts to abolish mandatory fees for private sector union members altogether. — Alexia Elejalde-ruiz, chicagotribune.com, "Supreme Court's Janus ruling could undercut private-sector unions, too," 9 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

This system took millions of dollars to develop and is often pointed to as a working example of upload filters by rights holders and lawmakers who wish to make such technology mandatory for every website which hosts user content online. — Ulrich Kaiser, Ars Technica, "Google: Sorry professor, old Beethoven recordings on YouTube are copyrighted," 3 Sep. 2018 Separately, an Iceland law that took effect Jan. 1 makes equal pay for equal work mandatory in the northern European nation, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality or nationality. — Kevin Mccoy, USA TODAY, "Citi to boost pay for women and minorities, closing gaps in the U.S., UK, and Germany," 15 Jan. 2018 Buying such insurance is quasi-mandatory, since banks won’t issue mortgages unless a property is covered. — Emanuel Ubert, Washington Post, "The strange story of how Florida’s lawmakers subsidized hurricane insurance," 13 Sep. 2017 In August, Medicare officials proposed canceling mandatory bundled payments for certain surgeries and scaling back the program for knee and hip replacements. — Chad Terhune, Kaiser Health News, "Why One California County Went Surgery Shopping," 1 Sep. 2017 Tests to check that older vehicles in Washington’s most-populous areas comply with emission regulations: Mandatory. — Jessica Lee, The Seattle Times, "With newer, cleaner cars on the road, is Washington’s vehicle emission test still necessary?," 31 July 2017 But some mandatories come with parole In some cases, a minimum sentence will still be imposed, but the convict would be newly eligible for parole. — Julia O'donoghue, NOLA.com, "Here's how Louisiana sentencing laws are changing under criminal justice reform," 26 June 2017 Like Obamacare, which essentially makes health care mandatory for everyone, insurance coverage is compulsory in Germany. — Patrick May, The Mercury News, "How countries around the world do single-payer health care," 2 June 2017 But some mandatories come with parole In some cases, a minimum sentence will still be imposed, but the convict would be newly eligible for parole. — Julia O'donoghue, NOLA.com, "Here's how Louisiana sentencing laws are changing under criminal justice reform," 26 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mandatory.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.