Obligation
[ɒblɪ'geɪʃ(ə)n] or [,ɑblɪ'ɡeʃən]
Definition
(noun.) a legal agreement specifying a payment or action and the penalty for failure to comply.
(noun.) a personal relation in which one is indebted for a service or favor.
(noun.) the state of being obligated to do or pay something; 'he is under an obligation to finish the job'.
Typed by Humphrey--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The act of obligating.
(n.) That which obligates or constrains; the binding power of a promise, contract, oath, or vow, or of law; that which constitutes legal or moral duty.
(n.) Any act by which a person becomes bound to do something to or for anouther, or to forbear something; external duties imposed by law, promise, or contract, by the relations of society, or by courtesy, kindness, etc.
(n.) The state of being obligated or bound; the state of being indebted for an act of favor or kindness; as, to place others under obligations to one.
(n.) A bond with a condition annexed, and a penalty for nonfulfillment. In a larger sense, it is an acknowledgment of a duty to pay a certain sum or do a certain things.
Edited by Aaron
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Responsibility, accountableness, bond of duty.[2]. Engagement, contract, agreement, stipulation.[3]. Debt of gratitude.
Typist: Vern
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Duty, necessity, compulsion, contract, bond, covenant, belief
ANT:Promise, word, choice, freedom, assurance, declaration, intention, exemption
Typed by Katie
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of obligating yourself in any incident, denotes that you will be fretted and worried by the thoughtless complaints of others. If others obligate themselves to you, it portends that you will win the regard of acquaintances and friends.
Typist: Weldon
Examples
- I am not under the slightest obligation to go to India, especially with strangers. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- And there could be no obligation, because there is no standard for action there, because no understanding has been reaped from that plane. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- If that were so, my sacrifice was nothing; my plainest obligation to her unfulfilled; and every poor action I had shrunk from, I was hourly doing. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- I will not affect to deny that you are under some obligation to me. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Obligation may be stretched till it is no better than a brand of slavery stamped on us when we were too young to know its meaning. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It was meant in kindness, of course; but it was not the sort of obligation one could remain under. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Here, therefore, we feign a new act of the mind, which we call the willing an obligation; and on this we suppose the morality to depend. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Where the tyranny of the governor removes this interest, it also removes the natural obligation to obedience. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- They felt that this change of period released them from the obligation of re-volunteering. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Afterwards a sentiment of morals concurs with interest, and becomes a new obligation upon mankind. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- He will feel highly honoured, and thus you may repay a part of the obligation I owe him, and compensate for the injuries fortune has done him. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- We might as well resolve the obligation to abstain from the possessions of others, into the obligation of a promise, as that of allegiance. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- You had no more obligation. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- You have done me many acts of kindness that I can never repay, and have no wish to repay, for I prefer continuing the obligation. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- The difficulties, that occur to us, in supposing a moral obligation to attend promises, we either surmount or elude. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Why do you want to put me under such terrible obligations? Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- I am under obligations to you, I know it, a d--d deal too well too; but I won't be always sermonised by you because you're five years my senior. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- That's knowing the obligations of a Alfred David, ain't it? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Under all these obligations, are our poor modest, humble, and thankful? Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- They each felt his sorrows, and their own obligations, and Marianne, by general consent, was to be the reward of all. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- It was painful, exceedingly painful, to know that they were under obligations to a person who could never receive a return. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- His ruling thought, his great contribution to political literature, was that the moral obligations upon ordinary men cannot bind princes. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- As there are here two interests entirely distinct from each other, they must give rise to two moral obligations, equally separate and independent. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- So far he was reasonably sure of having fulfilled all his obligations. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- I only want an easy mind, sir; not crushed by crowded obligations. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- In my position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place one's self under obligations. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- I said I owed him more obligations than I could ever repay, and held him in a higher admiration than I could ever express. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- It is not _my_ part, then, I think, to tak fro' _ye_--to be under obligations (as they say) to _ye_. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- If Mrs. Rushworth could imagine any interfering obligations, Julia was certainly able to quit London whenever she chose. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- He has sustained many losses of late; and these obligations accumulating upon him at once, would crush him to the earth. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
Edited by Denny