obedient

English

Etymology

From Middle English obedient, from Old French obedient, from Latin oboediēns, present active participle of oboediō (“obey”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈbiːdɪənt/, /əʊˈbiːdɪənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈbidiənt/, /oʊˈbidiənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: obe‧di‧ent

Adjective

obedient (comparative more obedient, superlative most obedient)

1. Willing to comply with the commands, orders, or instructions of those in authority.

   Jessica was so intensely obedient of her parents that her brother sometimes thought she was a robot.

Synonyms

• hearsome
• dutiful
• compliant

Antonyms

• disobedient
• dominant

Related terms

• obedience
• obey

Translations

willing to comply with commands

• Arabic: مُطِيع‎ (muṭīʕ), مُذْعِن‎ (muḏʕin)

  Egyptian Arabic: مطيع‎ (muṭīʕ)

• Armenian: հլու (hy) (hlu), հնազանդ (hy) (hnazand), խելոք (hy) (xelokʿ)
• Basque: esaneko
• Belarusian: паслухмя́ны (pasluxmjány), слухмя́ны (sluxmjány), паслу́шны (paslúšny), пако́рлівы (pakórlivy)
• Bulgarian: послу́шен (bg) (poslúšen), поко́рен (bg) (pokóren)
• Catalan: obedient (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 服從的／服从的 (fúcóng de), 順從的／顺从的 (shùncóng de), 聽話／听话 (zh) (tīnghuà), 乖 (zh) (guāi)

• Czech: poslušný (cs) m
• Dutch: gehoorzaam (nl)
• Esperanto: obeema
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: kuuliainen (fi), tottelevainen (fi)
• French: obéissant (fr)
• Galician: guiado, obediente
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: gehorsam (de), folgsam (de)

  Alemannic German: gfolgig, gfölgig

• Greek: υπάκουος (el) m (ypákouos)

  Ancient: ὑπήκοος (hupḗkoos), κτίλος (ktílos)

• Hebrew: צַיְתָנִי‎ (tsaytani)
• Hungarian: engedelmes (hu), szófogadó (hu)
• Icelandic: hlýðinn
• Indonesian: patih (id)
• Italian: ubbidiente (it)
• Japanese: 従順な (ja) (じゅうじゅんな, jūjun na), 忠実な (ja) (ちゅうじつな, chūjitsu na), 大人しい (ja) (おとなしい, otonashii)
• Khmer: ស្ដាប់បង្គាប់ (sdap bɑngkŏəp)
• Korean: 순종적 (sunjongjeok)
• Latin: oboediens, morigerus
• Latvian: paklausīgs, rātns
• Lithuanian: klusnùs, paklusnùs
• Macedonian: послушен (poslušen)
• Maori: ngāwari
• Middle English: serviable
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lydig (no)

  Nynorsk: lydig

• Old English: ġehīersum
• Plautdietsch: ontlich
• Polish: posłuszny (pl)
• Portuguese: obediente (pt)
• Romanian: ascultător (ro), obedient (ro), docil (ro), supus (ro)
• Russian: послу́шный (ru) (poslúšnyj), поко́рный (ru) (pokórnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: послушан

  Roman: poslušan (sh)

• Slovak: poslušný
• Slovene: poslušen (sl)
• Spanish: obediente (es)
• Swedish: lydig (sv)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: విధేయము (te) (vidhēyamu)
• Thai: เชื่อฟัง (th) (chʉ̂ʉa-fang), ว่านอนสอนง่าย (th)
• Tongan: talangofua
• Turkish: itaatkâr
• Ukrainian: слухня́ний (sluxnjányj), покі́рний (pokírnyj), покі́рливий (pokírlyvyj), послу́шний (poslúšnyj)
• Vietnamese: vâng lời (vi), tuân lời
• West Frisian: mak (fy)

Noun

obedient (plural obedients)

1. One who obeys.
   • 2002, John Michael Doris, Lack of Character: Personality and Moral Behavior, page 48:

     Damn the obedients and hail the defiants if you will; the experiment does not motivate confidence about how particular subjects would behave in markedly dissimilar situations.

Further reading

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

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin oboedientem, present active participle of oboediō (“obey”).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /o.bə.diˈent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /u.bə.diˈen/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /o.be.diˈent/

Adjective

obedient m or f (masculine and feminine plural obedients)

1. obedient

   Antonym: desobedient

Derived terms

• obedientment

Related terms

• obediència
• obeir

Further reading

• “obedient” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Latin

Verb

obēdient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of obēdiō

Middle English

Alternative forms

• obediand, obediant, obedyent, obidient

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French obedient, from Latin oboediēns, present active participle of oboediō (“obey”).

Adjective

obedient

1. obedient

References

• “obēdient, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2022-05-26.

Old French

Etymology

From Latin oboediēns, present active participle of oboediō (“obey”).

Adjective

obedient m (oblique and nominative feminine singular obedient or obediente)

1. obedient

Declension

Declension of obedient

Number	Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Subject	obedienz, obedients	obediente	obedient
	Oblique	obedient			obediente	obedient
Plural	Subject	obedient	obedientes		obedient
	Oblique	obedienz, obedients			obedientes	obedient

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin obediens or Italian obbediente.

Adjective

obedient m or n (feminine singular obedientă, masculine plural obedienți, feminine and neuter plural obediente)

1. obedient

Declension

Declension of obedient

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	obedient		obedientă	obedienți	obediente
	definite	obedientul		obedienta	obedienții	obedientele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	obedient		obediente	obedienți	obediente
	definite	obedientului		obedientei	obedienților	obedientelor