mandatory
UK/ˈmæn.də.t(ə)ɹi//ˈmæn.dəˌtɔɹ.i/
mandatory adjective: obligatory; required or commanded by authority.
Adjective
mandatory (comparative more mandatory, superlative most mandatory)
- obligatory; required or commanded by authority.
- Attendance at a school is usually mandatory for children.
- This kind of immediate control structure we take to be characteristic of the tribe, and it leads to a rather rigid type of system in which 'every action not mandatory is forbidden'.1999, Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen, Figments of Reality: The Evolution of the Curious Mind, page 276
- Synonyms:
- compulsory, obligatory, binding, compulsatory, decretory, forced, imperative, involuntary, nonoptional, required
- Antonyms:
- optional, elective, discretionary, facultative, free, noncompulsory, nonmandatory, nonobligate, nonobligatory, nonrequired
- Of, being or relating to a mandate.
- Mandatory Palestine
Noun
mandatory (plural mandatories)
mandatory meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
mandatory in Hindi
- obligatory — see also obligatory, compulsory
- अनिवार्य anivārya
mandatory in Tamil
- கட்டளைச் சார்ந்த, கட்டாயமாகச் செய்ய, கட்டளை
mandatory in Marathi
- mandatory, obligatory
- बंधनकारक bandhankārak, अनिवार्य anivārya
mandatory in Urdu
- ذمہ, ذمہ دار, لازمی
More languagesFewer languages
- mandatory in Bengali
- ফরজ fôrz, ওয়াজিব ōẇajibo
- mandatory in Telugu
- తప్పనిసరి
- mandatory in Malayalam
- നിർബന്ധം niṟbandhaṁ
- mandatory in Kannada
- ಆಜ್ಞೆಕೊಡುವ, ಆಜ್ಞಪ್ತ, ಆದಿಷ್ಟ, ಕಟ್ಟಾಜ್ಞೆಯ
- mandatory in Gujarati
- ફરજિયાત
- mandatory in Odia
- ବାଧ୍ଯ଼ତାମୂଳକ
- mandatory in Nepali
- अनिवार्य
- mandatory in Arabic
- إِجْبَارِيّ ʔijbāriyy, مَفْرُوض mafrūḍ
- mandatory in Indonesian
- wajib
Examples of mandatory in a sentence
- No English adverbs have mandatory complements, and most don't even license optional ones.
- I gave her her mandatory two weeks' notice and sacked her.
- If something is evil, it is never mandatory.
Synonyms of mandatory
- compulsory
- obligatory
- binding
- compulsatory
- forced
- imperative
- involuntary
- nonoptional
- required
- unbewised
3 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
- optional
- elective
- discretionary
- facultative
- free
- noncompulsory
- nonmandatory
- nonobligate
- nonobligatory
- nonrequired
5 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of mandatory
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more mandatory |
| superlative | most mandatory |
| Noun | |
| plural | mandatories |
Origin of mandatory
From Late Latin mandatorius (“of or belonging to a mandator”), from mandātor (“one who commands”), equivalent to mandate + -ory; see mandate.
Words formed from mandatory
Phrases with mandatory
Questions about mandatory
- What does mandatory mean?
- Mandatory means obligatory; required or commanded by authority.
- What is mandatory in Hindi?
- Mandatory in Hindi is अनिवार्य (anivārya). See Mandatory meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is mandatory?
- Mandatory can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce mandatory?
- Mandatory is pronounced /ˈmæn.də.t(ə)ɹi/ (UK).
Words near mandatory in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mandatory (page history and authors); mandatory (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); अनिवार्य (Marathi) (page history and authors); mandatory (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mandatory (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mandatory (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mandatory (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mandatory (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mandatory (Nepali, 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-mandatory.ogg.
Cite this entry: “mandatory.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mandatory. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.