obligatelyadv.
/ˈɒblᵻɡətli/, U.S. /ˈɑbləɡətli/ Biology.
Out of necessity; through restriction to such a mode of life or such environmental conditions. Cf. obligate adj. 2.
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the world > life > biology > balance of nature > organisms in relation to habitat > [adverb]
facultatively1887
obligately1915
heterotrophically1935
prototrophically1957
saprobiotically1957
chemoautotrophically1961
sympatrically1970
auxotrophically1976
1915 Science 13 Aug. 210/1 There appears to be a definite relationship between the high percentage of lactose, the dominance of an obligately lactic acid-fermenting organism, and the absence of putrefactive bacteria in the normal infantile intestinal flora.
1955 New Biol. 18 54 Clostridium is obligately anaerobic, i.e. able to grow only in the absence of oxygen.
1971 M. Alexander Microbial Ecol. viii. 181 Some populations are obligately halophilic.
1974 Nature 18 Oct. 574/2 Whether a symbiotic association is mutualistic or obligately parasitic.
1998 Amer. Naturalist 152 761/2 Clutch size in an obligately siblicidal parasitoid wasp.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1915