Comply
/kəmˈplaɪ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo obey a rule, order, or request.
Extra definitions
verbAct according to a requirement.
verbMeet an official standard.
verbTo yield assent; to accord; to acquiesce, agree, consent; to adapt oneself, to conform.
Sentence Examples
Staff must comply with safety rules.
The company complied with the order.
Please comply with instructions.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
None
Antonyms:
None
Word Origin & History
The word is very close to the French verb complaire which means to satisfy or to please. The word is also cognate with Old French complir (“to accomplish, complete; to do”) (modern French accomplir (“to accomplish, achieve”)). Compare complete, compliment.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
“Maſters commands come with a power reſiſtleſs / To ſuch as owe them abſolute ſubjection; / And for a life who will not change his purpoſe? / (So mutable are all the ways of men) / Yet this be ſure, in nothing to comply / Scandalous or forbidden in our Law.”
— 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 83, lines 415–420:
“He that complies againſt his Will / Is of his own opinion ſtill, / Which he may adhere to, yet diſown, / For Reaſons to himſelf beſt known, […]”
— 1677 (indicated as 1678), [Samuel Butler], “[The Third Part of Hudibras]. Canto III.”, in Hudibras. The Third and Last Part. […], London: […] Robert Horne, […], published 1679, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 226:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
Staff must ____ with safety rules.