Obligatory and Required

Obligatory

Obligatory adjective - Forcing one's compliance or participation by or as if by law.
Usage example: in this state, school attendance is obligatory until the age of 16

Required is a synonym for obligatory in compulsory topic. In some cases you can use "Required" instead the word "Obligatory" as an adjective or a noun, when it comes to topics like obligation, binding. popular alternative

Nearby Words: obligation, obliging, obligate, obligatorily, obligating

Required

Required adjective - Forcing one's compliance or participation by or as if by law.
Usage example: formal instruction in driving is required in this state before you can get your driver's license

Obligatory is a synonym for required in obligation topic. You can use "Obligatory" instead an adjective "Required", if it concerns topics such as binding, compulsory. popular alternative

Nearby Words: requirement, requiring

Both words in one sentence

  • Western Animation / Secret Squirrel Shoe Phone: An obligatory trope for any spy parody; Secret always has the required disguised gadget to handle any situation.
  • Token Mini-Moe When Mori Toshimichi was asked in an interview about the designs of the characters in the game, his first comment on Rachel was "Well, every Japanese anime and/or game is required to have the obligatory gothic-loli character".
Cite this Source
Required and Obligatory. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/obligatory/required
Obligatory & Required. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/obligatory/required>.
Required or Obligatory. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/obligatory/required.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "obligatory" and "required" have occurred on timeline