| / English Dictionary |
OBEDIENCE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Behavior intended to please your parents
Example:
he went to law school out of respect for his father's wishes
Synonyms:
obedience; respect
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("obedience" is a kind of...):
filial duty (duty of a child to its parents)
Derivation:
obedient (dutifully complying with the commands or instructions of those in authority)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The act of obeying; dutiful or submissive behavior with respect to another person
Synonyms:
obedience; obeisance
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("obedience" is a kind of...):
compliance; submission (the act of submitting; usually surrendering power to another)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "obedience"):
truckling (the act of obeying meanly (especially obeying in a humble manner or for unworthy reasons))
Antonym:
disobedience (the failure to obey)
Derivation:
obedient (dutifully complying with the commands or instructions of those in authority)
obey (be obedient to)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The trait of being willing to obey
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("obedience" is a kind of...):
flexibility; tractability; tractableness (the trait of being easily persuaded)
Attribute:
obedient (dutifully complying with the commands or instructions of those in authority)
disobedient (not obeying or complying with commands of those in authority)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "obedience"):
submissiveness (the trait of being willing to yield to the will of another person or a superior force etc.)
Antonym:
disobedience (the trait of being unwilling to obey)
Derivation:
obedient (dutifully complying with the commands or instructions of those in authority)
obey (be obedient to)
Context examples:
From that day she was a model of obedience, and the old lady complacently admired the success of her training.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
After all, if these people had strange fads and expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were at least ready to pay for their eccentricity.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
François was stern, demanding instant obedience, and by virtue of his whip receiving instant obedience; while Dave, who was an experienced wheeler, nipped Buck’s hind quarters whenever he was in error.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
It was in obedience to law that the bird flew, and it was in obedience to the same law that fermenting slime had writhed and squirmed and put out legs and wings and become a bird.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
A youth passed in solitude, my best years spent under your gentle and feminine fosterage, has so refined the groundwork of my character that I cannot overcome an intense distaste to the usual brutality exercised on board ship: I have never believed it to be necessary, and when I heard of a mariner equally noted for his kindliness of heart and the respect and obedience paid to him by his crew, I felt myself peculiarly fortunate in being able to secure his services.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Grey Beaver clouted White Fang alongside the head, so that he cowered down close to the earth in respectful obedience.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
We must obey, and silence is a part of obedience; and obedience is to bring you strong and well into loving arms that wait for you.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Where there is energy to command well enough, obedience never fails.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The driver recognized my aunt, and, in obedience to a motion of her hand at the window, drove slowly off; we following.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Here have I been sitting this hour, giving these young ladies a sample of true conjugal obedience—for who can say, you know, how soon it may be wanted?
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
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