obey

1. to act according to what you have been asked or ordered to do by someone in…

Meaning of

obey

in English


obey


verb


us

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/

oʊˈbeɪ

/


uk

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio


/

əʊˈbeɪ

/


/

əˈbeɪ

/


B2

to

act


according

to what you have been

asked

or

ordered

to do by someone in

authority

, or to

behave


according

to a

rule

,

law

, or

instruction

:


The

soldiers


refused

to obey

(

orders

)

.


to obey the


rules

of

international


law


See also



obedient


according to the law, rules, etc.


according to


If we do not act according to the rules, there will be chaos.


in line with


What she did was not always completely in line with the law.


in accordance with


The council has not acted in accordance with its obligations.


obey


If they don’t obey the rules, they will be asked to leave.


follow


We are obliged to follow the law in this matter.


See more results »


to obey someone or something


obey


Children must obey their parents.


follow


All religions guide youths to follow the teachings of elders and parents.


comply


There are serious penalties for failure to comply with the regulations.


observe


People must observe the law.


adhere to


They failed to adhere to the terms of the agreement.


abide by


Players must abide by the referee’s decision.


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[

T

]


Falling

objects

obey the


law

of

gravity

.


[

T

]

If

your


body

or

part

of

your


body

does not obey you, it does not

work

in the way it should:


She was so

tired

her

legs

just wouldn’t obey her any

longer

.

He

hated

being in the

army

because he had to obey

commands

.

With

careful


training

, a

dog

will obey

its


master


completely

.

The

role

of the

police

is to

ensure

that the

law

is obeyed.

Have you been obeying the

rules

?

He was

disciplined

for

failing

to obey

orders

.


Obeying & breaking the law


See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:


Occurring and happening


Inability and awkwardness

(Definition of

obey

from the

Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus


© Cambridge University Press)

obey

| Intermediate English


obey


verb


[

I/T

]


us

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio


/

oʊˈbeɪ

/

to do what you are told or

expected

to do

according

to someone in

authority

or a

rule

or

law

:


[

I

]


The

toddler


refused

to obey.


[

T

]


Residents are

expected

to obey the

house


rules

.

(Definition of

obey

from the

Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary


© Cambridge University Press)

Examples

of


obey

obey


The transgressors will have no friend nor an intercessor to be obeyed.

From

CNN


Day in and day out, you’re taught to

obey

.

From

TIME


More examples


Fewer examples


The third myth is that once an employer realizes they could be sued for their actions, they will

obey

the law.


There is something servile in the habit of seeking after a law which we may

obey

.


However, he also knew it was a soldier’s duty to

obey

orders.


Buyers must sign a form stating they will

obey

the law.


There is no happier autocrat than one whose rules are being unquestioningly obeyed and whose authority is being docilely accepted.

From

TIME


After the third refusal, the reverend acquiesced to her demand and performed the ceremony with no mention of the promise to

obey

.


You are a supporter of becoming a backward nation that wallows in poverty so that all

obey

their supreme master.


They are obeying a finely tuned science of dosage, temperature control, accelerated or slowed down with more or less chemistry.


Our workers are treated well,

obey

the law, and provide high levels of service to our clients.


Motorists need to be cautious in construction zones and

obey

traffic devices, city officials said.


According to the scientific viewpoint, the origins of the cosmos, of life and of mind are natural processes that

obey

material laws and principles.

From

NPR


Nearly 80 percent of the pedestrians observed were walking alone, and the large majority obeyed the lights and crossed at the crosswalk.


Cyclists are fully capable of obeying the rules of the road; they fare best when they act, and are treated, as drivers of vehicles.

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Translations of

obey

in Chinese (Traditional)
服從,順從, 遵守,遵循, 遵守,遵循(科學定律)…


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in Chinese (Simplified)
服从,顺从, 遵守,遵循, 遵守,遵循(科学定律)…


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in Spanish
obedecer…


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in Portuguese
obedecer (a)…


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in more languages

in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Arabic
in Czech
in Danish
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Korean
in Italian
in Russian
(人、命令などに)従う…


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itaat etmek, söz dinlemek, uymak…


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obéir, obéir (à)…


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obeir…


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يُطيع…


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poslouchat…


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rette sig efter, adlyde…


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mematuhi…


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เชื่อฟัง…


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tuân theo…


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słuchać, podporządkować się, przestrzegać…


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mematuhi…


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gehorchen…


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adlyde, følge, rette seg etter…


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복종하다…


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ubbidire (a), obbedire…


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повиноваться, слушаться…


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