Obligation Meaning
/ˌɒb.lɪˈɡeɪ.ʃn̩/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe act of binding oneself by a social, legal, or moral tie to someone.
nounA social, legal, or moral requirement, duty, contract, or promise that compels someone to follow or avoid a particular course of action.
Sentence Examples
You have no obligation to help us.
We have a legal obligation to pay our taxes.
You are under no obligation to buy anything.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
Every adult citizen has a legal ____ to pay taxes on their income.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
As a citizen, you have a moral ____ to report any suspicious activity to the local authorities.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English obligacioun, from Old French obligacion, from Latin obligatio, obligationem, from obligatum (past participle of obligare), from ob- (“to”) + ligare (“to bind”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- (“to bind”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The only responsibility and power of the Vice President under the Constitution is to faithfully count the electoral college votes as they have been cast.
The Constitution does not empower the Vice President to alter in any way the votes that have been cast, either by rejecting certain of them or otherwise.
How the Vice President discharges this constitutional obligation is not a question of his loyalty to the President any more than it would be a test of a President’s loyalty to his Vice President
whether the President assented to the impeachment and prosecution of his Vice President for the commission of high crimes while in office.
No President and no Vice President would—or should—consider either event as a test of political loyalty of one to the other.
And if either did, he would have to accept that political loyalty must yield to constitutional obligation.
Neither the President nor the Vice President has any higher loyalty than to the Constitution."
— 2021 January 5, J. Michael Luttig, Twitter, archived from the original on 05 Jan 2021; republished as Washington Post, 5 January 2021:
"The Pupil after his Pupillarity, had granted a Diſcharge to one of the Co-tutors, which did extinguiſh the whole Debt of that Co-tutor, and conſequently of all the reſt, they being all correi debendi, lyable by one individual Obligation, which cannot be Diſcharged as to one, and ſtand as to all the reſt."
— December 19 1668, James Dalrymple, “Mr.Alexander Seaton contra Menzies”, in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion, Edinburgh, published 1683, page 575:
"I am indebted to several friends for notes, observations, and correspondence on this subject, more especially to one, referred to as "Z.," and to another as "Q.," who have obtained a considerable number of reliable histories for me, and have also supplied many valuable notes [...]. Other obligations are mentioned in the text."
— 1927, Havelock Ellis, chapter 2, in Studies in the Psychology of Sex:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Every adult citizen has a legal ____ to pay taxes on their income.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
As a citizen, you have a moral ____ to report any suspicious activity to the local authorities.