obligates

verb

present tense third-person singular of obligate
as in compels
to cause (a person) to give in to pressure the problem is of your own making, so don't think that you can obligate me to help

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of obligates City staff told commissioners that the development agreement obligates the developer to build a bridge. — Miami Herald, 16 Sep. 2026 The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 obligates Washington to measure and reduce regulatory burdens. — Literary Hub, 26 Aug. 2026 Zeus’s Law obligates Telemachus and Odysseus’s wife Penelope to host the suitors who hope to marry her in Odysseus’s absence. — Natasha O'Neill, Vanity Fair, 16 July 2026 The Montreux Convention obligates Turkey to allow commercial ships freedom of passage, but allows the country to charge for some specific things, including sanitary, pilotage, towage and lighthouse services. — Joanne Stocker, CBS News, 1 July 2026 The automotive groups accused Volkswagen of violating a standard dealer agreement, which obligates the company to sell its products through authorized dealerships. — Chase Jordan may 19, Charlotte Observer, 19 May 2026 Iran is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that obligates it not to enrich uranium for military purposes. — Benjamin Weinthal, FOXNews.com, 23 Apr. 2026 Europe’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) obligates foreign streaming services to invest a portion of their revenue into local productions, but leaves the modalities of this obligation to each individual country. — Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 27 Mar. 2026 The registry obligates legitimate telemarketers to stop calling numbers listed on it. — Dante Motley, Austin American Statesman, 13 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for obligates
  1. compels
  2. coerces
  3. obliges
  4. forces
Verb
  • Here, Hendrikx plays anthropologist to a culture that compels each of us—whether a rider or not—to find our own vehicle for fulfillment, then take it to redline.
    — Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 30 Sep. 2026
  • However, the necessity of operating without a financial safety net compels one to internalize these lessons.
    — Shreyans Lodha, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of compels
Verb
  • However, the rotation of this filament clearly dominates how the galaxies within it spin, perhaps by funneling hydrogen gas along the dark-matter filament and onto the galaxies in a way that coerces their spin while providing further fuel for star formation.
    — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 4 Dec. 2025
  • Haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, Ali, a university professor, coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance.
    — Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 14 Nov. 2025
Definition of coerces
Verb
  • The stabs at humor also fall flat, even if the gimmick of a priest injecting his enemies with a serum that obliges them to attend mass every Sunday is kind of fun the first time, but not really the second or third.
    — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2026
  • And Ric Salinas, who plays Chachalacani, humorously obliges, bringing his Culture Clash vaudeville skills to the role of the sentry who’s caught between the rock of Klion’s tyranny and his fellow feeling for Antíkona’s sympathetic cause.
    — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of obliges
Verb
  • The new series picks up after Korra’s actions, which inadvertently lead to an apocalypse that forces humanity to take refuge in the titular Havens, all of which have visually distinct identities.
    — Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2026
  • This constraint saves me from perfectionism and forces me to share my work.
    — Ben Meer, CNBC, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of forces

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Cite this Entry

“Obligates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obligates. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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