OBEDIENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does obedient mean? 

• OBEDIENT (adjective)
  The adjective OBEDIENT has 1 sense:

1. dutifully complying with the commands or instructions of those in authority

  Familiarity information: OBEDIENT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OBEDIENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Dutifully complying with the commands or instructions of those in authority

Context example:

the obedient colonies...are heavily taxed; the refractory remain unburdened

Similar:

acquiescent; biddable (willing to carry out the orders or wishes of another without protest)

conformable (quick to comply)

duteous; dutiful (willingly obedient out of a sense of duty and respect)

Y2K compliant (prepared to accurately process date and time data between and into the 20th and 21st centuries)

Also:

compliant (inclined to comply)

submissive (inclined or willing to submit to orders or wishes of others or showing such inclination)

good (having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified)

manageable (capable of being managed or controlled)

docile (willing to be taught or led or supervised or directed)

manipulable; tractable (easily managed (controlled or taught or molded))

Attribute:

obedience (the trait of being willing to obey)

Antonym:

disobedient (not obeying or complying with commands of those in authority)

Derivation:

obedience (behavior intended to please your parents)

obedience (the act of obeying; dutiful or submissive behavior with respect to another person)

obedience (the trait of being willing to obey)

obey (be obedient to)

 Context examples 

She rose obedient, but when she have made a step she stopped, and stood as one stricken.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

So he worked hard, learned discipline, and was obedient.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Hans was obedient to Edith's slightest order.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Other men had discovered the trick of expression, of making words obedient servitors, and of making combinations of words mean more than the sum of their separate meanings.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak; and at others again, so tyrannic, so beyond control!

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Beth, comfort yourself with your music, and be faithful to the little home duties, and you, Amy, help all you can, be obedient, and keep happy safe at home.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The first day she was very obedient and industrious, and exerted herself to please Mother Holle, for she thought of the gold she should get in return.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Then she would tell Jip to lie down on the table instantly, like a lion—which was one of his tricks, though I cannot say the likeness was striking—and, if he were in an obedient humour, he would obey.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)