obligate
/ˈɑ.blɪˌɡeɪt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.57 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To cause to be grateful or indebted; to oblige.
Canadian usage; American usage; Transitive verb
verb
To commit (money, for example) in order to fulfill an obligation.
Canadian usage; American usage; Transitive verb
adj
Requiring a (specified) way of life, habitat, etc.
noun
An obligate organism.
Example Sentences
- "That progress has taken over ten years and £20 million to bring to fruition. But, as Mands explains, the journey has been one that HSG has been almost obligated to undertake. "First and foremost, this is an environmental project," she says."
- "[A]nalysis of the chemical composition of their bones reveals that they were obligate carnivores."
- "In addition to being the obligate food source for monarch caterpillars, milkweeds also provide abundant nectar for the adult butterflies."
- "In some languages such signaling is optional, whereas in others it is obligate."
- "Aquatic sites constitute obligate habitat for some species, and are critical breeding habitat for species with complex life cycles involving aquatic egg or larval development."
- "Unlike for phagotrophic flagellates, bacteria serve as a facultative rather than an obligate food source for crustacean zooplankton."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: Middle English
- First known use: First attested in 1533
Word Breakdown
- Root: obligat
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɑ.blɪˌɡeɪt/
- British English: /ˈɒb.lɪˌɡeɪt/
Usage
- Transitive verb
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Obsolete
Inflected Forms
obligates (present, singular)
obligating (participle, present)
obligated (participle, past)
obligated (past)
more obligate (comparative)
most obligate (superlative)
obligates (plural)