oblige definition | Dictionary.com

o⋅blige

[uh-blahyj]

verb, o⋅bliged, o⋅blig⋅ing.

–verb (used with object)

1.	to require or constrain, as by law, command, conscience, or force of necessity.

2.	to bind morally or legally, as by a promise or contract.

3.	to place under a debt of gratitude for some benefit, favor, or service: I'm much obliged for the ride.

4.	to put (one) in a debt of gratitude, as by a favor or accommodation: Mr. Weems will oblige us with a song.

5.	to make (an action, policy, etc.) necessary or obligatory: Your carelessness obliges firmness on my part.

–verb (used without object)

6.	to be kindly accommodating: I'll do anything within reason to oblige.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME obligen < OF obligier < L obligāre to bind. See obligate

Related forms:

o⋅blig⋅ed⋅ly [uh-blahy-jid-lee]

, adverb

o⋅blig⋅ed⋅ness, noun

o⋅blig⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1. compel, force. 2. obligate. 4. Oblige, accommodate imply making a gracious and welcome gesture of some kind. Oblige emphasizes the idea of conferring a favor or benefit (and often of taking some trouble to do it): to oblige someone with a loan. Accommodate emphasizes doing a service or furnishing a convenience: to accommodate someone with lodgings and meals.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To oblige

o·blige (ə-blīj')

v. o·bliged, o·blig·ing, o·blig·es

v. tr.

To constrain by physical, legal, social, or moral means.
To make indebted or grateful: I am obliged to you for your gracious hospitality.
To do a service or favor for: They obliged us by arriving early.

v. intr.
To do a service or favor: The soloist obliged with yet another encore.

[Middle English obligen, from Old French obligier, from Latin obligāre : ob-, to; see ob- + ligāre, to bind; see leig- in Indo-European roots.]
o·blig'er n.

Synonyms: These verbs mean to perform a service or a courteous act for: obliged me by keeping the matter quiet; accommodating her by lending her money; favor an audience with an encore. See Also Synonyms at force.
Antonym: disoblige

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Oblige

O*blige"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Obliged; p. pr. & vb. n. Obliging.] [OF. obligier, F. obliger, L. obligare; ob (see Ob-) + ligare to bind. See Ligament, and cf. Obligate.]

1. To attach, as by a bond. [Obs.]

He had obliged all the senators and magistrates firmly to himself. --Bacon.

2. To constrain by physical, moral, or legal force; to put under obligation to do or forbear something.

The obliging power of the law is neither founded in, nor to be measured by, the rewards and punishments annexed to it. --South.

Religion obliges men to the practice of those virtues which conduce to the preservation of our health. --Tillotson.

3. To bind by some favor rendered; to place under a debt; hence, to do a favor to; to please; to gratify; to accommodate.

Thus man, by his own strength, to heaven would soar, And would not be obliged to God for more. --Dryden.

The gates before it are brass, and the whole much obliged to Pope Urban VIII. --Evelyn.

I shall be more obliged to you than I can express. --Mrs. E. Montagu.

Language Translation for : oblige

Spanish: obligar,

German: nötigen,

Japanese: ～を強いる

More Translations »

oblige

1297, "to bind by oath," from O.Fr. obligier, from L. obligare, from ob "to" + ligare "to bind," from PIE base *leig- "to bind" (see ligament). Main modern meaning "to make (someone) indebted by conferring a benefit or kindness" is from 1567; be obliged "be bound by ties of gratitude" is from 1548. Obliging "willing to do service or favors" is attested from 1632.

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