obligate
Syllables: ob·li·gate/ˈɒb.lɪˌɡeɪt/US/ˈɑ.blɪˌɡeɪt/
obligate verb: to bind, compel, constrain, or oblige by a social, legal, or moral tie.
Verb
obligate (third-person singular simple present obligates, present participle obligating, simple past and past participle obligated)
- To bind, compel, constrain, or oblige by a social, legal, or moral tie.
- That progress has taken over ten years and £20 million to bring to fruition. But, as Mands explains, the journey has been one that HSG has been almost obligated to undertake. "First and foremost, this is an environmental project," she says.2023 December 27, Richard Foster, “New rail freight terminal leads the way”, in RAIL, number 999, page 39
- Synonyms:
- also: force: Synonyms
- To cause to be grateful or indebted; to oblige.
- To commit (money, for example) in order to fulfill an obligation.
Adjective
UK/ˈɒb.lɪ.ɡɪt/US/ˈɑ.blɪ.ɡɪt/
obligate (comparative more obligate, superlative most obligate)
- Requiring a (specified) way of life, habitat, etc.
- [A]nalysis of the chemical composition of their bones reveals that they were obligate carnivores.2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 171
- Indispensable; essential; necessary; obligatory; mandatory; unavoidably invoked.
- In addition to being the obligate food source for monarch caterpillars, milkweeds also provide abundant nectar for the adult butterflies.
- In some languages such signaling is optional, whereas in others it is obligate.
- Synonyms:
- binding, compulsatory, compulsory, decretory, forced, imperative, involuntary, mandatory, nonoptional, obligatory
- Antonyms:
- discretionary, elective, facultative, free, noncompulsory, nonmandatory, nonobligate, nonobligatory, nonrequired, nonrequisite
- Bound by oath, law or duty.
- The Law sayith,
Mack a mendis for thy synne.
The Father of Heaven is wraith wyth thee.
Quhair is thy rychteousnes, goodnes, and satisfactioun ?
Thou art bound and obligat unto me, [to] the devill, and [to] hell.1559-1566, John Knox, The History of the Reformation in Scotland, book 1, page 25
- The Law sayith,
Noun
obligate (plural obligates)
- An obligate organism.
obligate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
obligate in Hindi
- to bind, compel, or constrain by a social, legal, or moral tie
- बाध्य bādhya
obligate in Tamil
- கட்டுப்பட்ட, நிலைமாறா, நிலைமாறாத, குறிப்பிட்ட சூழலில் மட்டும் வாழும், மாற்று இன்மை, மாற்று இல்லாத
obligate in Urdu
- مجبور کرنا
obligate in Bengali
- obligate
- প্রয়োজনীয় proẏōjoniẏo
More languagesFewer languages
- obligate in Malayalam
- കടമപ്പെടുത്തുക, കടപ്പെട്ടവനാക്കുക, കടപ്പാടു വരുത്തുക, നിർബ്ബന്ധിക്കുക
Examples of obligate in a sentence
- Aquatic sites constitute obligate habitat for some species, and are critical breeding habitat for species with complex life cycles involving aquatic egg or larval development.2009, C. Kenneth Dodd Jr., Amphibian Ecology and Conservation: A Handbook of Techniques, page 304:
- Unlike for phagotrophic flagellates, bacteria serve as a facultative rather than an obligate food source for crustacean zooplankton.2012, Ulrich Sommer, Plankton Ecology: Succession in Plankton Communities, page 351:
- Light is the obligate energy source for the phototrophic microbes constructing these benthic mats2013, K.C. Marshall, editor, Advances in Microbial Ecology, volume 11, page 472:
Synonyms of obligate
- also: force: Synonyms
- binding
- compulsatory
- compulsory
- forced
- imperative
- involuntary
- mandatory
- nonoptional
- obligatory
4 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
- discretionary
- elective
- facultative
- free
- noncompulsory
- nonmandatory
- nonobligate
- nonobligatory
- nonrequired
- nonrequisite
5 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of obligate
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | obligates |
| present participle | obligating |
| past participle | obligated |
| past | obligated |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more obligate |
| superlative | most obligate |
| Noun | |
| plural | obligates |
Origin of obligate
First attested in 1533; borrowed from Latin obligātus, perfect passive participle of obligō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of oblige, taken through French.
Partly inherited from Middle English obligat(e) (“bound (by any obligation), obliged”), partly directly borrowed from Latin obligātus, see Etymology 1, -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix) for more.
Words formed from obligate
Phrases with obligate
Questions about obligate
- What does obligate mean?
- Obligate means to bind, compel, constrain, or oblige by a social, legal, or moral tie.
- What is obligate in Hindi?
- Obligate in Hindi is बाध्य (bādhya). See Obligate meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use obligate in a sentence?
- Aquatic sites constitute obligate habitat for some species, and are critical breeding habitat for species with complex life cycles involving aquatic egg or larval development.
- What part of speech is obligate?
- Obligate can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce obligate?
- Obligate is pronounced /ˈɒb.lɪˌɡeɪt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of obligate?
- The past tense of obligate is obligated.
Words near obligate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: obligate (page history and authors); obligate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); obligate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); প্রয়োজনীয় (Bengali) (page history and authors); obligate (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-obligate.wav.
Cite this entry: “obligate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/obligate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.