Word.ws English Dictionary

complies

/kəmˈplaɪz/

complies is the third-person singular simple present indicative of comply.

Meaning of comply

Verb

comply (third-person singular simple present complies, present participle complying, simple past and past participle complied)

  1. To yield assent; to accord; to acquiesce, agree, consent; to adapt oneself, to conform.
    • comply with rules
    Antonyms:
    violate
  2. (archaic) To accomplish, to fulfil.
    • Gentle Abrahen, I / am griev'd my power cannot comply my promiſe: / my Father's ſo averſe from granting my / requeſt concerning thee, that with angrie frowns / he did expreſs rather a paſſionate rage, / then a refuſall civil, or accuſtom'd / to his indulgent diſpoſition.1654, attributed to George Chapman, now believed to be by Henry Glapthorne, Revenge for Honour. A Tragedie, London: Printed for Richard Marriot, […], →OCLC; republished London: Printed for Humphrey...
  3. (archaic) To be ceremoniously courteous; to make one's compliments.
    • [Y]our hands come then, th’appurtenance of welcome is faſhion and ceremonie; let mee comply with you in this garb, let me^([sic – meaning lest my]) extent to the players, which I tell you muſt ſhowe fairely outwards, ſhould more appeare like entertainment than yours: […]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604...
  4. (archaic) To enfold; to embrace.
    • And then a rug of carded wooll, / Which, spunge-like, drinking in the dull / Light of the moon, seem'd to comply, / Cloud-like, the daintie deitie.1648, Robert Herrick, “Oberon’s Palace”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine of Robert Herrick Esq., London: Printed for John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by...

Phrases with complies

Words that rhyme with complies

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about complies

What is complies the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Complies is the third-person singular simple present indicative of comply.
How do you pronounce complies?
Complies is pronounced /kəmˈplaɪz/.

Words near complies in the dictionary

  1. complicitousness
  2. complicity
  3. complied
  4. complier
  5. compliers
  6. complies
  7. compliest
  8. complieth
  9. complified
  10. complifies
  11. complify

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: complies (page history and authors); comply (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “complies.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/complies. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.