compulsory
/kəmˈpʌlsəɹi/
compulsory adjective: required; obligatory; mandatory.
Adjective
compulsory (comparative more compulsory, superlative most compulsory)
- Required; obligatory; mandatory.
- The ten-dollar fee was compulsory.
- They are entirely private concerns, established by individual teachers, and attendance upon them is no more compulsory than attendance on our dispensaries.1827, A. D. Jr., Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, A. and C. Black, page 212
- Having the power of compulsion; constraining.
- Such compulsory measures are limited.
- There will be financial and other incentives to encourage voluntary recruitment, but if that fails to find the numbers a compulsory nationwide call-up will be reconsidered.2025 November 13, Kate Connolly, “Germany decides against conscription to replenish post-cold war military”, in The Guardian
Noun
compulsory (plural compulsories)
- Something that is compulsory or required.
- Delobel and Schoenfelder failed to win the free dance, but they had built a big lead in the compulsories and the original dance.2008 March 22, The Associated Press, “French Victory in Ice Dance”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022
compulsory meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
compulsory in Hindi
- mandatory — see also mandatory, obligatory
- अनिवार्य anivārya
compulsory in Tamil
- அகத்தியம், கட்டாயம், வலுக்கட்டாயம், வல்லந்தம்
compulsory in Urdu
- a compulsory; mandatory act
- فرض farz
compulsory in Bengali
- mandatory — see also mandatory, obligatory
- বাধ্যতামূলক baddhotamulok, ওয়াজিব ōẇajib, ফরজ phoroj
More languagesFewer languages
- compulsory in Malayalam
- നിർബ്ബന്ധിതം, നിർബ്ബന്ധിത, നിർബ്ബന്ധപൂർവ്വമായ, നിയമപ്രകാരം നിർബന്ധിതമായ
- compulsory in Kannada
- ಕಡ್ಡಾಯವಾದ, ಒತ್ತಾಯದ, ಬಲಾತ್ಕಾರದ
- compulsory in Punjabi
- ਲਾਜ਼ਮ lāzam
- compulsory in Gujarati
- ફરજીયાત
- compulsory in Arabic
- إِجْبَارِيّ ʔijbāriyy, إِلْزَامِيّ ʔilzāmiyy, مَفْرُوض mafrūḍ
- compulsory in Malay
- wajib
- compulsory in Vietnamese
- bắt buộc
Examples of compulsory in a sentence
- Some might agree that membership in the firm is perhaps more compulsory than membership in a municipality, but balk at applying the analogy to the nation.1996, Ugo Pagano, Democracy and Efficiency in the Economic Enterprise, page 73:
- Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven.2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:
- Supposedly, reservations are compulsory, but I want to find out what would happen if you just turn up.2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:
Synonyms of compulsory
- mandatory
- binding
- compulsatory
- forced
- imperative
- involuntary
- nonoptional
- obligatory
- required
- unbewised
2 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of compulsory
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more compulsory |
| superlative | most compulsory |
| alternative India Philippines | compulsary |
| Noun | |
| plural | compulsories |
Origin of compulsory
Borrowed from Late Latin compulsorius, from Latin compulsus. Displaced native Old English ġenīedelīċ.
Words formed from compulsory
Phrases with compulsory
Questions about compulsory
- What does compulsory mean?
- Compulsory means required; obligatory; mandatory.
- What is compulsory in Hindi?
- Compulsory in Hindi is अनिवार्य (anivārya). See Compulsory meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use compulsory in a sentence?
- Some might agree that membership in the firm is perhaps more compulsory than membership in a municipality, but balk at applying the analogy to the nation.
- What part of speech is compulsory?
- Compulsory can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce compulsory?
- Compulsory is pronounced /kəmˈpʌlsəɹi/.
Words near compulsory in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: compulsory (page history and authors); compulsory (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); فرض (Urdu) (page history and authors); compulsory (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); compulsory (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਲਾਜ਼ਮ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); compulsory (Gujarati, 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-compulsory.wav.
Cite this entry: “compulsory.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/compulsory. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.