different between obligatory vs optative

English

Etymology

From Middle English obligatorie, from Latin obligat?rius.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /??bl???t??i/, /??bl???t??i/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /??bl???t(?)?i/

Adjective

obligatory (comparative more obligatory, superlative most obligatory)

1. Imposing obligation, legally, morally, or otherwise; binding; mandatory.
   • 1673, Richard Baxter, Christian Directory

     […] if he speak the words of an oath in a strange language, thinking they signify something else, or if he spake in his sleep, or deliration, or distraction, it is no oath, and so not obligatory.
2. Requiring a matter or obligation.

Synonyms

• bounden
• mandatory

Antonyms

• optional

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• obligatory in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Middle English

Adjective

obligatory

1. Alternative form of obligatorie

English

Alternative forms

• (abbreviation, grammar): opt.

Etymology

From Middle French optatif, from Late Latin opt?t?vus, a calque of Ancient Greek ??????? (euktik?, “related to wishing”), from Latin opt?tus, past participle of opt?re.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??pt?t?v/, /?p?te?t?v/
• Hyphenation: op?ta?tive
• Rhymes: -e?t?v

Adjective

optative (not comparable)

1. Expressing a wish or a choice.
   • 1662, Thomas Fuller, History of the Worthies of England

     an optative blessing

   • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, Back Bay, 2006. page 64.

     ... then, in the optative retirement from hard science that building and opening a U.S.T.A-accredited and pedagogically experimental tennis academy apparently represented for him ...

2. (grammar) Related or pertaining to the optative mood.

Translations

Noun

optative (plural optatives)

1. (grammar) A mood of verbs found in some languages (e.g. Sanskrit, Old Prussian, Ancient Greek), used to express a wish. English does not have inflectional optative forms.
2. (grammar) A verb or expression in the optative mood.

Derived terms

• optatively

Translations

See also

• subjunctive

French

Adjective

optative

1. feminine singular of optatif

Latin

Adjective

opt?t?ve

1. vocative masculine singular of opt?t?vus