How to use compulsory in a sentence
40 example sentences · adjective, noun
Compulsory means required; obligatory; mandatory. Example: “The ten-dollar fee was compulsory.”
Examples of compulsory by meaning
adjectiveRequired; obligatory; mandatory.
- The ten-dollar fee was compulsory.
- 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
adjectiveHaving 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
nounSomething 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
More sentences with compulsory
- I still need to decide which electives to take along with my compulsory courses next semester.From the entry elective
- The government combed out some people from the compulsory action.From the entry comb out
- I made a nice post about my engagement and grandma quote tweeted it with a link to an essay about compulsory heterosexuality. What did she mean?From the entry quote tweet
- As with compulsory Sunday worship, death for blasphemy was for the third offence.2017, Barry R. Harker, It’s Sunday in America, →ISBN. From the entry bodkin
- The reason for this is that there is compulsory voting in Belgium.2016, Alistair Jones, Britain and the European Union, Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 212. From the entry turnout
- The creative donuts are worth the long line and the shameless compulsory foodstagram.2016 March 22, Kallyn Hobmann, Rachel Finegold, Amanda Yoo, “Spring break in L.A.”, in The Arrow, Westlake High School, West Lake, CA…. From the entry foodstagram
- Abolishing compulsory voting would take Queensland back to Joh era, says Wayne Swan.2012 January 3, The Australian. From the entry Joh
- Training in judgecraft is limited, when one would have expected it to be compulsory and a prerequisite.2011, Penny Darbyshire, Sitting in Judgment. From the entry judgecraft
- In some states, a minimum form of car insurance is compulsory when you register a car.2010, Danny Ong, The International Students′ Handbook: Living and Studying in Australia, page 106. From the entry green slip
- It was the compulsory sacrifices of the peasants that allowed the Residenzstadt to flourish.2007, Tim Blanning, The Pursuit of Glory, Penguin, published 2008, page 112. From the entry Residenzstadt
- During the war they had all gone bush so as to avoid compulsory evacuation.2006, Regina Ganter, Mixed Relations: Asian-Aboriginal Contact in Northern Australia, University of Western Australia Press, page 175. From the entry go bush
- This type of insurance is called the Green Slip, or compulsory third party (CTP) insurance.2005, Jane Egginton, Working & Living Australia, page 150. From the entry green slip
- On the CBOT, ringing out was voluntary, while on the New York Cotton Exchange, it was compulsory.2003, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History, volume 5, page 388. From the entry ring out
- A perfectly healthy child of three months is taken in for a routine compulsory DPT vaccine.1991, Colorado Lawyer, volume 20, Colorado Bar Association, page 1835. From the entry DPT vaccine
- 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. From the entry book
- How could I have missed this milestone of compulsory heterosexuality?2019 April 26, Asha French, “A ‘Daddy-Daughter Date,’ Queer Single Mom-Style”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times…. From the entry compulsory heterosexuality
- In Malaysia, it is compulsory for doctors to undergo housemanship for two years after completing a medical degree.2015, Pagalavan Letchumanan, Hard Truths Of Being a Doctor Vol 2: Life and Challenges, →ISBN. From the entry housemanship
- Against the coercions of abstract fungibility, unevenness unrestrains the subject of history from compulsory participation in the regimes of exchange equivalence.2012, Ruth Jennison, The Zukofsky Era: Modernity, Margins, and the Avant-Garde. From the entry unrestrain
- Four other extremely popular Alawi shrines are not yet "sunnized" but have received the compulsory honor of a Sunni mosque nearby.2010, Stephan Procházka, The Plain of Saints and Prophets, p 155. From the entry sunnize
- Belling recommends that prospective borrowers pay close attention during pretransaction financial counseling, which is compulsory for anyone seeking a reverse mortgage.2009 June 28, Bob Tedeschi, “Reverse Mortgages for Home Purchases”, in New York Times. From the entry pretransaction
- Marriage, pregnancy, and motherhood, however, are grounds for compulsory nonconscription for women while religious conviction is grounds for voluntary nonconscription.1993, Leonore Loeb Adler, International handbook on gender roles, page 151. From the entry nonconscription
- The task of this enquiry is to center on – and decenter – such defining institutions: phallogocentrism and compulsory heterosexuality.1990, Judith Butler, 1990 Preface to Gender Trouble. From the entry phallogocentrism
- Abs show up in a most-muscular shot, a vacuum shot, the hands-behind-head compulsory ab shot, twisting poses, and so on.1985, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 508. From the entry vacuum
- But it remained untaken advantage of by reason of the Society having no recognised compulsory scheme of pharmaceutical education.1938 September 17, J[ohn] Rutherford Hill, “British Pharmaceutical Conference, 1938: Chairman’s Address […]”, in The Chemist and Druggist…. From the entry untaken advantage of
- Compulsory social distancing measures across England should also be maintained until zero-Covid is achieved, according to the group, with working from home actively encouraged.2020 August 20, Lewis McKenzie, “Boris Johnson urged to adopt ‘zero-Covid’ strategy to tackle virus”, in Press Association, London. From the entry zero COVID
- After the sentence was commuted, her gender was revealed during the compulsory pre-transportation bath and an appeal was lodged for her pardon.2013, David Hunt, Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia, volume 1. From the entry pretransportation
- Yet truth be told the most concentrated lesbiphobia and backlash—the kind that inspires compulsory silence—can be found among the multiracial, hip hop CD-purchasing public.2008, T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Hip Hop's Hold on Young Black Women, →ISBN. From the entry lesbiphobia
- In-program commentation is another level of documentation that is compulsory, with standards being set regarding what should be included in source code.1997, Case Studies in Algorithms and Programming. From the entry commentation
- At school, where politeness is not one of the compulsory subjects, I was "Pup", "Puggy", "Ki-ki", "Balcombe Beauty", "Snarleywow", and other shafts of endearment.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries. From the entry politeness
- Pereira got a petrol moped, which meant he had to do CBT (compulsory basic training), have a licence, get insurance, all of which cost him money.2025 September 4, Sam Wollaston, “Britain’s illegal e-bike boom: desperation, delivery drivers – and unthinkable danger”, in The Guardian…. From the entry CBT
- For a start, it's making it compulsory for companies to settle at least half of their quarterly taxes in ZiG, according to the central bank report.2024 April 9, Huileng Tan, “Zimbabwe just introduced a new gold-backed currency in an attempt to fight inflation and wean off the US…. From the entry zig
- Some of these were effectively becoming status zero before being eligible to leave full-time education -- they were irregular attenders during their final years of compulsory schooling.2005, Helen Jones, Towards a Classless Society?, →ISBN, page 86. From the entry status zero
- The Guardian's housing specialist was outraged by Tom's conviction that the city was chasing moonbeams in applying for compulsory purchase orders to build two little Manchesters in Mobberley and Lymm.2009, Harold Evans, My Paper Chase: True Stories of Vanished Times: An Autobiography. From the entry chase moonbeams
- One-line business is optional; three-line business compulsory; when it's two lines you have to be on parade unless you have secured a 'pair' and cleared it with the 'pairing whip'.1999, Gyles Brandreth, chapter 3, in Breaking the Code. From the entry pair
Meaning of compulsory
- adjective Required; obligatory; mandatory.
- adjective Having the power of compulsion; constraining.
- noun Something that is compulsory or required.
Questions about compulsory in a sentence
- How do you use compulsory in a sentence?
- Compulsory is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “The ten-dollar fee was compulsory.”
- What is a short sentence with compulsory?
- “Such compulsory measures are limited.”
- What does compulsory mean?
- Compulsory means required; obligatory; mandatory.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: compulsory (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use compulsory in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/compulsory. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
