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  1. mandatory love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Required or commanded by authority; obligatory: Attendance at the meeting is mandatory.
  2. adj. Of, having the nature of, or containing a mandate.
  3. adj. Holding a League of Nations mandate over a territory.
  4. n. A mandatary.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Of the nature of a mandate; containing a command or mandate; directory.
  2. n. Same as mandatary.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Obligatory; required or commanded by authority.
  2. adj. Of, being or relating to a mandate.
  3. n. dated, rare A person, organisation or state who receives a mandate; a mandatary.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Containing a command; preceptive; directory.
  2. adj. Obligatory; compulsory; required by authority.
  3. adj. (Law) Not optional; not able to be modified or disregarded.
  4. n. Same as mandatary.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. required by rule
  2. n. a territory surrendered by Turkey or Germany after World War I and put under the tutelage of some other European power until they are able to stand by themselves
  3. n. the recipient of a mandate

Etymologies

  1. From Late Latin mandatorius ("of or belonging to a mandator"), from mandator ("one who commands"); see mandate. (Wiktionary)

Examples

  • “That said, what is it going to take to put teeth in the term mandatory evacuation?”

    Lives saved: 62

  • “But by using the term mandatory, we hope that that puts enough seriousness behind the order for people to leave.”

    CNN Transcript Sep 10, 2004

  • “On the last Tuesday of each month, she and her three horns and five rhythm put on an unstoppable juggernaut of a set at the Iridium, with one hard-hitting swinger after another, pausing only for what she describes as a mandatory "two-ballad minimum.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Holiday Cheer

  • “For the same reason they put 'mandatory' in quotes: To both differentiate it from an after-school activity, and because they know that "mandatory" is exactly that – "mandatory" with quotes and all.”

    Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

  • “They were with a half-dozen friends at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem last month, so the establishment tacked what it called a mandatory 18 percent gratuity onto the bill of about $73, according to reports.”

    Archive 2009-11-01

  • “But, another issue out there you may not be aware of is what they call mandatory enrollment.”

    CNN Transcript Nov 7, 2009

  • “Such voting — let's call it mandatory absentee balloting — takes the voter out of the polling booth and puts him at home or elsewhere, someplace where votes could be sold to the highest bidder.”

    Sound Politics: Voting By Mail Is Becoming More Common

  • “Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom delayed Light's arraignment briefly to allow time for what he called a mandatory conference.”

    The Charleston Gazette -

  • “This is the only mention of "mandatory" in conjunction with service, the only other use of the word mandatory is in regard to prohibited qualifying activities (religious ceremonies).”

    Alex Jones' Prison Planet.com

  • “They are sometimes called "mandatory spending" because Congress is required by law to make payments to those who meet eligibility standards, regardless of other spending needs or tax revenues.”

    The Wall Street Journal: The Road to a Downgrade

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synonyms (5)

Words with the same meaning

  1. preceptive
  1. directory
  1. obligatory
  1. compulsory
  1. commanding

equivalents (1)

Other words for ‘mandatory’

  1. obligatory

antonyms (1)

Words with the opposite meaning

  1. optional

hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. receiver
  1. recipient

same context (14)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. compulsory
  2. stringent
  1. federal
  2. obligatory
  1. preliminary
  2. annual
  1. statutory
  2. additional
  1. regulatory
  2. strict
  1. periodic
  2. operational
  1. definitive
  2. minimum

reverse dictionary (11)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. elective
  2. mandatary
  1. commandatory
  2. ministerial
  1. mandatory
  2. go-no-go
  1. ban
  2. mandate
  1. paranoia
  2. permissive
  1. writ

tagging (1)

Words tagged ‘mandatory’

  1. orgasm

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Word visualization

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘mandatory’.

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Comments

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  • chained_bear I think the boys tend* to do that in their sketches, don't they?

    *using present tense because I refuse to believe Fry & Laurie will ever cease. :) Aug 18, 2009

  • yarb I don't think it's that common a pronunciation - at least the Fry & Laurie clip is the first time I've encountered it. I suppose it makes sense re: mandate, but I suspect Fry may be speaking in character here, i.e. for comedic effect. Aug 18, 2009

  • Telofy Thanks! So it's probably something obscure or new-fangled and British. Aug 18, 2009

  • qroqqa I can't play sound clips, but if it's just [mænˈdeɪtəri], I would assume that's a common pronunciation, and surely there's nothing strange about it. Myself, I say [ˈmændətri] with initial stress, which is probably the older pronunciation—mine usually are, when I look them up. Aug 18, 2009

  • seanahan Wow, that pronunciation is really jarring, I've never heard it said like that before. I'm not sure if it is a British thing or a comic thing. Aug 18, 2009

  • Telofy Can someone tell me why Stephen Fry stresses mandatory on the second syllable in this video (around 1:28)?
    I'm especially interested in that because some time ago I used to read it (hopefully never aloud) that way for a while before I noticed the mistake. Aug 16, 2009

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‘mandatory’ has been looked up 2693 times, added to 17 lists, commented on 6 times, and has a Scrabble score of 15.