obey

CEFRB1

/əʊˈbeɪ/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To do what a person, rule, or law says.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).

Examples

  • All drivers must obey the speed limit on this busy highway.

  • You are supposed to obey the law.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /oʊˈbeɪ/
  • /ɵˈbe(j)/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of.

  2. To do as one is told.

More examples

In context

  • You must learn to obey instructions.

  • Soldiers are trained to obey.

  • obey the rules

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The strict teacher required all students to blank the classroom rules without question.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English obeyen, from Anglo-Norman obeir, obeier et al., Old French obeir, from Latin oboediō (also obēdiō (“to listen to, harken, usually in extended sense, obey, be subject to, serve”)), from ob- (“before, near”) + audiō (“to hear”). Compare audient. In Latin, ob + audire would have been expected to become Classical Latin *obūdiō (compare in + claudō becoming inclūdō), but it has been theorized that the usual law court associations of the word for obeying encouraged a false archaism from ū to oe, to oboediō (compare Old Latin oinos → Classical Latin ūnus).