obedience

See also: obédience

English

Alternative forms

• oboedience (obsolete, rare)

Etymology

From Middle English obedience, from Anglo-Norman obedience, from Old French obedience (modern French obédience), from Latin oboedientia. Displaced native Old English hīersumnes (compare modern English hearsomeness). Cognate with obeisance.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ə(ʊ)ˈbiːdɪəns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

obedience (countable and uncountable, plural obediences)

1. The quality of being obedient.

   Obedience is essential in any army.

   • February 24, 1823, Thomas Jefferson, letter to Mr. Edward Everett

     Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.

   • 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter VIII, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

     Cautioning Nobs to silence, and he had learned many lessons in the value of obedience since we had entered Caspak, I slunk forward, taking advantage of whatever cover I could find...

2. The collective body of persons subject to any particular authority.
3. A written instruction from the superior of an order to those under him.
4. Any official position under an abbot's jurisdiction.

Synonyms

• submission, the German vice; hearsomeness (nonce word)

Antonyms

• disobedience, defiance, rebellion (ignoring)
• violation (ignoring, especially rules)
• control, dominance (ruling)

Derived terms

• canonical obedience

 

Related terms

• obedient
• obeisance
• obey

Translations

quality of being obedient

• Albanian: bindje (sq) f
• Arabic: طَاعَة f (ṭāʕa), إِطَاعَة f (ʔiṭāʕa)

  Egyptian Arabic: طاعة f (ṭāʕa)

• Armenian: հնազանդություն (hy) (hnazandutʻyun)
• Asturian: obediencia f
• Azerbaijani: itaət
• Belarusian: паслухмя́насць f (pasluxmjánascʹ), пако́рнасць f (pakórnascʹ), пако́ра f (pakóra), пако́рлівасць f (pakórlivascʹ)
• Bulgarian: подчине́ние (bg) n (podčinénie), поко́рство (bg) n (pokórstvo)
• Catalan: obediència
• Cherokee: ᎪᎯᏳᎯ (gohiyuhi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 百依百順／百依百顺 (zh) (bǎiyībǎishùn), 服從／服从 (zh) (fúcóng)

• Czech: poslušnost (cs) f
• Danish: lydighed (da) c
• Dutch: gehoorzaamheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: obeemo
• Estonian: sõnakuulelikkus
• Faroese: lýdni n
• Finnish: kuuliaisuus (fi)
• French: obéissance (fr) f
• Galician: obediencia f
• Georgian: მორჩილი (morčili)
• German: Gehorsam (de) m, Folgsamkeit (de) f, Gehorsamkeit f
• Greek: υπακοή (el) f (ypakoḯ), πειθαρχία (el) f (peitharchía)

  Ancient: ὑπακοή f (hupakoḗ), πειθαρχία (peitharkhía)

• Hebrew: צַיְתָנוּת f (tsaytanut)
• Hindi: अनुपालन (hi) m (anupālan), आज्ञाकारिता f (ājñākāritā), इताअत (hi) f (itāat)
• Hungarian: engedelmesség (hu)
• Indonesian: kepatuhan (id)
• Interlingua: obedientia
• Irish: umhlaíocht f
• Italian: obbedienza (it) f
• Japanese: 服従 (ja) (ふくじゅう, fukujū), 恭順 (ja) (きょうじゅん, kyōjun), 順守 (ja) (じゅんしゅ, junshu)
• Kazakh: бағындыру (bağyndyru), бағыну (bağynu)
• Korean: 복종(服從) (ko) (bokjong)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: guhdarî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: бойсунуучулук (ky) (boysunuuculuk)
• Latin: oboedientia f
• Latvian: paklausība f, rātnība f
• Lithuanian: paklusnumas m, paklusimas m
• Macedonian: послушност f (poslušnost)
• Malayalam: അനുസരണം (ml) (anusaraṇaṁ)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дуулгавар (mn) (duulgavar), дуулгавартай байдал (duulgavartaj bajdal)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lydighet (no) m or f

• Old English: hīersumnes f
• Persian: رامی (fa) (râmi), اطاعت (fa) (etâ'at), فزمانبردای (farmānbordārī)
• Polish: posłuszeństwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: obediência (pt) f
• Romanian: ascultare (ro), supunere (ro)
• Russian: послуша́ние (ru) n (poslušánije), поко́рность (ru) f (pokórnostʹ), подчине́ние (ru) n (podčinénije), повинове́ние (ru) n (povinovénije)
• Sanskrit: अरमति (sa) f (aramati)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: поко́рно̄ст f, послу́шно̄ст f

  Roman: pokórnōst (sh) f, poslúšnōst (sh) f

• Slovak: poslušnosť f
• Slovene: poslušnost f
• Spanish: obediencia (es) f
• Swahili: taa (sw), utii (sw)
• Swedish: lydnad (sv) c
• Tagalog: pagsunod
• Tajik: итоат (itoat), фармонбардорӣ (farmonbardori), итоаткорӣ (itoatkori)
• Telugu: విధేయత (te) (vidhēyata)
• Thai: การเชื่อฟัง (th) (gaan-chʉ̂ʉa-fang)
• Turkish: itaatkârlık, itaatlilik
• Ukrainian: покі́рність f (pokírnistʹ), послу́шність f (poslúšnistʹ), поко́ра f (pokóra), слухня́ність f (sluxnjánistʹ), послухня́ність f (posluxnjánistʹ)
• Urdu: اطاعت f (itā'at)
• Uyghur: ئىتائەت (ita'et)
• Uzbek: boʻysunish, itoat (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự nghe lời (vi)
• Welsh: ufudd-dod
• Yiddish: פֿאָלגן (folgn)
• Yoruba: igboran

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} [script needed] (agya palana), ^{(please verify)} [script needed] (pharmabaradari)

Further reading

• “obedience”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “obedience”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Old French

Etymology

From Latin.

Noun

obedience oblique singular, f (oblique plural obediences, nominative singular obedience, nominative plural obediences)

1. obedience
2. authority; influence; power

   Il comaunda par obedience Ke de la femme s’en issist

   He commanded by his authority that it (the evil spirit) come out of her