| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| oblige |
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| SYLLABICATION: | o·blige |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   -bl j |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: o·bliged, o·blig·ing, o·blig·es
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To constrain by physical, legal, social, or moral means. 2. To make indebted or grateful: I am obliged to you for your gracious hospitality. 3. To do a service or favor for: They obliged us by arriving early. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To do a service or favor: The soloist obliged with yet another encore. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English obligen, from Old French obligier, from Latin oblig re : ob-, to; see ob– + ligre, to bind; see leig- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | o·bliger —NOUN
| | SYNONYMS: | oblige, accommodate, favor 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
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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