obedient meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

obedient

adj

UK /əˈbiːdɪənt/ · US /əˈbidiənt/

Etymology From Middle English obedient, from Old French obedient, from Latin oboediēns, present active participle of oboediō (“obey”).

Willing to comply with the commands, orders, or instructions of those in authority; biddable.

Jessica was so intensely obedient of her parents that her brother sometimes thought she was a robot.

Synonyms: hearsome, dutiful, compliant, bowsome, buxom, morigerous, obedible, obedient, obsequent, obsequious, tall, toward
Antonyms: 34 terms
disobedient, dominant, argumentative, breachy, contumacious, defiant, froward, immorigerous, inobedient, insubmissive, insubordinate, insurgent, nonobedient, obstreperous, rebellious, recalcitrant, recusant, refractory, restiff, restive, unbowsome, unbuxom, uncompliant, uncontrollable, uncooperative, ungovernable, unmanageable, unobedient, unobeying, unobliging, unruly, unsubmissive, untoward, volitient
Derived terms: nonobedient, obediently, obedientness, obedient plant, overobedient, superobedient, unobedient
Related terms: obedience, obey, at one's beck and call, wrap around one's little finger, obdt, obedt, domable, domesticable, domesticatable, tameable, conformant, flattery, humble, sycophant
Hypernyms: acquiescent, deferential, devoted, docile, faithful, loyal
Hyponyms: servile, subordinate, sycophantic, oily, pliant, sequacious, supple, soapy, tractile, yielding

noun

Etymology From Middle English obedient, from Old French obedient, from Latin oboediēns, present active participle of oboediō (“obey”).

One who obeys.

Damn the obedients and hail the defiants if you will; the experiment does not motivate confidence about how particular subjects would behave in markedly dissimilar situations.2002, John Michael Doris, Lack of Character: Personality and Moral Behavior, page 48: