Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The quality or condition of being obedient.
- noun The act of obeying.
- noun A sphere of ecclesiastical authority.
- noun A group of people under such authority.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act or habit of obeying; dutiful compliance with a command, prohibition, or known law and rule prescribed; submission to authority: as, to reduce a refractory person to obedience.
- noun Words or action expressive of reverence or dutifulness; obeisance.
- noun A collective body of those who adhere to some particular authority: as, the king's obedience; specifically, the collective body of those who adhere or yield obedience to an ecclesiastical authority: as, the Roman obedience, or the churches of the Roman obedience (that is, the aggregate of persons or of national churches acknowledging the authority of the Pope).
- noun Eccles.: A written precept or other formal instrument by which a superior in a religious order communicates to one of his dependents any special admonition or instruction.
- noun In Roman Catholic monasteries, any ecclesiastical and official position, with the estate and profits belonging to it, which is subordinate to the abbot's jurisdiction.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act of obeying, or the state of being obedient; compliance with that which is required by authority; subjection to rightful restraint or control.
- noun Words or actions denoting submission to authority; dutifulness.
- noun A following; a body of adherents.
- noun A cell (or offshoot of a larger monastery) governed by a prior.
- noun One of the three monastic vows.
- noun The written precept of a superior in a religious order or congregation to a subject.
- noun See under
Canonical . - noun See under
Passive .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The quality of being
obedient .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun behavior intended to please your parents
- noun the act of obeying; dutiful or submissive behavior with respect to another person
- noun the trait of being willing to obey
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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While the parent must thus take care to establish the _principle of authority_ as the ground of obedience on the part of his children, and must not make their doing what he requires any the less acts of _obedience_, through vainly attempting to diminish the hardship of obeying a command by mingling the influence of reasonings and persuasions with it, he may in other ways do all in his power -- and that will be a great deal -- to make the acts of obedience easy, or, at least, to diminish the difficulty of them and the severity of the trial which they often bring to the child.
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He declares that his job is to help “win obedience from the Gentiles.”
One World, Under God 2009
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He declares that his job is to help “win obedience from the Gentiles.”
One World, Under God 2009
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The word obedience made me smile through my tears.
Dancing with Werewolves Carole Nelson Douglas 2009
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The word obedience made me smile through my tears.
Dancing with Werewolves Carole Nelson Douglas 2009
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The word obedience made me smile through my tears.
Dancing with Werewolves Carole Nelson Douglas 2009
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The word obedience comes from the Latin obedire, which means "listen to."
Standing Things on Their Heads Julie D. 2004
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The word obedience comes from the Latin obedire, which means "listen to."
Archive 2004-05-01 Julie D. 2004
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Besides the exercises it offers for developing will-power, the other factor in obedience is the capacity to perform the act it becomes necessary to obey.
The Montessori Method Anne E. Montessori George 1912
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The readiness of my obedience is the only atonement I can offer for the weakness which calls for its exertion.
Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance Into the World 1778
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