obedience
/əˈbiːdɪəns
/noun [mass noun]
1Compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another’s authority: children were taught to show their parents obedience obedience to moral standards...
- But his blind obedience to duty and authority leads to a moral failure to rebel against Ahab, and because duty wins, he dooms both himself and the ship to its fate.
- Particularly significant is the power of certain types of organization to condition the behaviour of their members, especially in habituating them to obedience to authority.
- He was fascinated by behavioural patterns and society's obedience to authority and New Yorkers were doubtless delighted when his research revealed them to be so obliging.
Synonyms
compliance, acquiescence, tractability, tractableness, amenability;
dutifulness, deference, duty, respect, respectfulness, observance of the law/rules, discipline, biddableness, duteousness;
malleability, pliability, conformity, conformance, conformability, submissiveness, submission, docility, tameness, meekness, passivity, passiveness, subservience, obsequiousness, servility
1.1Observance of a monastic rule: vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience...
- It is out of the Benedictine, or monastic, tradition of obedience that I formed my decision.
- They took vows of chastity and poverty, and if part of a monastic community, obedience to the abbot.
- But even monastic women, after taking the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty, could not he cleansed of the stigma of Eve.
Phrases
in obedience to
Origin
Middle English: via Old French from Latin oboedientia, from the verb oboedire (see obey).