Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Required or commanded by authority; obligatory: Attendance at the meeting is mandatory.
- adj. Of, having the nature of, or containing a mandate.
- adj. Holding a League of Nations mandate over a territory.
- n. A mandatary.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Containing a command; preceptive; directory.
- adj. Obligatory; compulsory; required by authority.
- adj. Not optional; not able to be modified or disregarded.
- n. Same as mandatary.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. required by rule
- 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
- n. the recipient of a mandate
Examples
“That said, what is it going to take to put teeth in the term mandatory evacuation?”
“But by using the term mandatory, we hope that that puts enough seriousness behind the order for people to leave.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“But, another issue out there you may not be aware of is what they call mandatory enrollment.”
“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.”
“Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom delayed Light's arraignment briefly to allow time for what he called a mandatory conference.”
“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).”
“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.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mandatory’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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bbc uk china vocab.
conservationists, estimate, threats, infertility, eating away at, endangered, furry, panel, in trouble, gongs, triumphed, caps and 563 more...
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Adoration
Words I kind of love. For not particular reason, I just do.
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