Meaning & use

adherence

noun·Academic

The act of following or sticking to a rule, agreement, or practice.

See it in a sentence

The clinic monitors patients' adherence to their prescribed medication schedule.

Strict adherence to the building code kept the structure safe during the earthquake.

A note on using this word

Usually followed by "to," as in "adherence to the rules," and common in medical, legal, and regulatory writing.

Words with a similar meaning

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

deviationviolation

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