comply
Syllables: com·plyUK/kəmˈplaɪ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/kəmˈplɑe/
comply verb: to yield assent; to accord; to acquiesce, agree, consent; to adapt oneself, to conform.
Verb
comply (third-person singular simple present complies, present participle complying, simple past and past participle complied)
- To yield assent; to accord; to acquiesce, agree, consent; to adapt oneself, to conform.
- comply with rules
- comply fully
- 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...
- Synonyms:
- carry out, consummate
- 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...
- 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...
comply meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
comply in Hindi
- अनुपालन करना
comply in Tamil
- இணங்க
comply in Urdu
- بات مان لینا, سننا
comply in Bengali
- সম্মত হওয়া, স্বীকৃত হওয়া, সম্মতি দেওয়া, অনুবর্তী হওয়া
More languagesFewer languages
- comply in Malayalam
- അനുസരിക്കുക, അംഗീകരിക്കുക, സമ്മതിക്കുക, വഴിപ്പെടുക
- comply in Kannada
- ಅನುಸರಿಸು, ಅನುವರ್ತಿಸು, ಕೋರಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ನೆರವೇರಿಸು, ಇಷ್ಟವನ್ನು ಪೂರೈಸು
- comply in Odia
- ଅନୁପାଳନ କରିବା, ଅନୁପାଳନ କରନ୍ତୁ
Examples of comply in a sentence
- All workers must comply with safety regulations.
- He refused to comply with their demands.
Synonyms of comply
4 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of comply
| third-person singular present | complies |
|---|---|
| present participle | complying |
| past participle | complied |
| past | complied |
Origin of comply
From Italian complire, Catalan complir (“to complete, fulfil; to carry out”), Spanish cumplir (“to complete, fulfil”), (alternatively from Old French compli), from Latin complēre, from compleō (“to finish, complete; to fulfil”), from com- (prefix indicating completeness of an act) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, near; by, with”)) + pleō (“to fill; to fulfil”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”)). The word is very close to the French verb complaire which means to satisfy or to please. The word is also cognate with Old French complir (“to accomplish, complete; to do”) (modern French accomplir (“to accomplish, achieve”)). Compare complete, compliment.
Words formed from comply
Words that rhyme with comply
Questions about comply
- What does comply mean?
- Comply means to yield assent; to accord; to acquiesce, agree, consent; to adapt oneself, to conform.
- What is comply in Hindi?
- Comply in Hindi is अनुपालन करना. See Comply meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use comply in a sentence?
- All workers must comply with safety regulations.
- What part of speech is comply?
- Comply is a verb.
- How do you pronounce comply?
- Comply is pronounced /kəmˈplaɪ/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of comply?
- The past tense of comply is complied.
Words near comply in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: comply (page history and authors); comply (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); comply (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); comply (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); comply (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); comply (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); comply (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); comply (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-comply.ogg, en-au-comply.ogg.
Cite this entry: “comply.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/comply. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.