obligate

Verb

Verb Forms: obligated, obligating, obligates

To bind or compel someone to a course of action.
force somebody to do something
commit in order to fulfill an obligation
- "obligate money"
bind by an obligation; cause to be indebted
To bind, compel, constrain, or oblige by a social, legal, or moral tie.
To cause to be grateful or indebted; to oblige.
To commit (money, for example) in order to fulfill an obligation.

Adjective

restricted to a particular condition of life
- "an obligate anaerobe can survive only in the absence of oxygen"

Adj

Requiring a (specified) way of life, habitat, etc.
Indispensable; essential; necessary; obligatory; mandatory; unavoidably invoked.

Examples

A good Scrabble player doesn’t obligate themselves to use all tiles in one turn.
In addition to being the obligate food source for monarch caterpillars, milkweeds also provide abundant nectar for the adult butterflies.
In some languages such signaling is optional, whereas in others it is obligate.

Origin / Etymology

Borrowed from Latin obligātus, past participle of obligō. Doublet of oblige, taken through French.

Synonyms

bind, compel, hold, oblige, also: force: Synonyms, optional § Synonyms

Antonyms

facultative, optional § Antonyms

Scrabble Score: 11

obligate: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
obligate: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
obligate: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 14

obligate: valid Words With Friends Word