mandatory

English

Etymology

From Late Latin mandatorius (“of or belonging to a mandator”), from mandātor (“one who commands”); see mandate.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæn.də.t(ə)ɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmæn.dəˌtɔɹ.i/, [ˈmɛən.dəˌtɔɹ.i]

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Adjective

mandatory (comparative more mandatory, superlative most mandatory)

1. Obligatory; required or commanded by authority.

   Synonyms: compulsory, obligatory; see also Thesaurus:compulsory

   Antonyms: optional, elective; see also Thesaurus:optional

   Attendance at a school is usually mandatory for children.

   • 1999, Ian Stewart; Jack Cohen, Figments of Reality: The Evolution of the Curious Mind, page 276:

     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'.

   • 2011, Dirk Bünger, Deficits in EU and US Mandatory Environmental Information Disclosure: Legal, Comparative Legal and Economic Facets of Pollutant Release Inventories, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 57:

     It also discusses the access to legal instruments for enforcement with regard to mandatory disclosure of environmental information.

   • 2021 December 29, Paul Stephen, “Rail's accident investigators”, in RAIL, number 947, pages 30-31:

     While in the most serious cases mounting an investigation is usually mandatory, there are other occasions where it is less clear-cut or when it is concluded that an investigation would not fulfil RAIB's objectives to improve safety or prevent future accidents.

2. Of, being or relating to a mandate.

   Mandatory Palestine

Derived terms

• mandatorily
• mandatoriness
• mandatory detention
• mandatory sentence

 

Translations

obligatory — See also translations at obligatory,‎ compulsory

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: إِجْبَارِيّ‎ (ʔijbāriyy), مَفْرُوض‎ (mafrūḍ)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: абавязко́вы (be) (abavjazkóvy)
• Bengali: ফরজ (bn) (fôrz), ওয়াজিব (bn) (ōẇajibo)
• Bulgarian: задължителен (bg) (zadǎlžitelen)
• Catalan: obligatori (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 強制／强制 (zh) (qiángzhì)

• Czech: povinný (cs) m
• Danish: obligatorisk (da)
• Dutch: verplicht (nl), nodig (nl)
• Esperanto: deviga
• Estonian: kohustuslik, sunduslik, sund-
• Finnish: pakollinen (fi), pakko-
• French: obligatoire (fr), requis (fr)
• German: obligatorisch (de), vorgeschrieben (de), zwingend notwendig
• Greek: υποχρεωτικός (el) m (ypochreotikós)
• Hebrew: הכרחי‎
• Hungarian: kötelező (hu)
• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: obbligatorio (it), richiesto (it), necessario (it)
• Japanese: 強制的な (きょうせいてきな, kyōseiteki-na)
• Kazakh: міндетті (mındettı)
• Khmer: ចាំបាច់ (km) (cambac)
• Korean: 의무적인 (uimujeogin)
• Malayalam: നിർബന്ധം (ml) (niṟbandhaṃ)
• Maori: whakature
• Norwegian: obligatorisk
• Polish: obowiązkowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: obrigatório (pt), necessário (pt)
• Russian: обяза́тельный (ru) (objazátelʹnyj)
• Spanish: obligatorio (es), necesario (es)
• Swedish: obligatorisk (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: zorunlu (tr)
• Ukrainian: обов'язко́вий (obovʺjazkóvyj)

Noun

mandatory (plural mandatories)

1. (disc golf) A sign or line that require the path of the disc to be above, below or to one side of it.

   Synonym: (colloquial) mando

2. (dated, rare) A person, organisation or state who receives a mandate; a mandatary.

Further reading

• “mandatory”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “mandatory”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
• The Oxford English Dictionary

Anagrams

• damnatory