Meaning & use
compulsory
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Meaning
adjectivenot comparable
Required by law, rule, or authority; not optional.
Grammar: Used before nouns and after be/seem: compulsory education; Attendance is compulsory. More compulsory is rare.
Patterns
- compulsory education
- compulsory for someone
- it is compulsory to do something
Education is compulsory for children up to a certain age.
Wearing a helmet is compulsory on the construction site.
It is compulsory to sign in before entering the lab.
Common combinations
- compulsory education
- Compulsory education begins at age six in many countries.
- compulsory subject
- Mathematics is a compulsory subject in the program.
- compulsory attendance
- Compulsory attendance was introduced at the meeting.
- make something compulsory
- The city made recycling compulsory for apartments.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mandatory
- Very close, but more common in everyday official speech and notices; compulsory is common in education and law.
- obligatory
- Formal, often about duty, custom, or rules; can sound less about legal force than compulsory.
- required
- Neutral and broad: demanded by a person, form, course, or situation.
- binding
- Means having legal or moral force, often an agreement, rather than simply required.
Opposites
Word family
- compulsion noun
- A force or pressure to do something; also an irresistible urge in psychology.
- compulsorily adverb
- In a required manner; formal and less common.
- compulsive adjective
- Driven by an urge, or done without choice; different from compulsory though related.
Commonly confused: compulsory or compulsive?
compulsory vs compulsive
Compulsive describes an urge or repeated behavior, such as compulsive checking; compulsory means required by rule.
Practice
Which sentence uses compulsory correctly?
Choose one answer.
Compulsory is an adjective before the noun modules. Compulsoryly is not a standard form, and you must compulsory misuses the adjective as a verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “compulsory”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.