obey

verb

ō-ˈbā 

ə-

obeyed; obeying

transitive verb

1

: to follow the commands or guidance of

He always obeys his parents.

2

: to conform to or comply with

obey an order

Falling objects obey the laws of physics.

intransitive verb

: to behave obediently

The dog does not always obey.

obeyer noun

Synonyms

• adhere (to)
• comply (with)
• conform (to)
• follow
• goose-step (to)
• mind
• observe

Examples of obey in a Sentence

His dog has learned to obey several commands.

He always obeys his parents.

The children must obey the rules.

The children must learn to obey.

Recent Examples on the Web

Life became a quest not to obey, but to understand — and to act morally out of reason, not just faith. —Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025

Justice Elena Kagan and Barrett pressed the government's lawyer about whether the Trump administration would obey temporary circuit rulings blocking its policies until the Supreme Court issued final decisions. —Bart Jansen, USA Today, 18 May 2025

The president has to obey the orders of the Supreme Court. —Laura Romero, ABC News, 17 May 2025

Tired of being subjected to the whims and orders of humans, the cyborg has overridden the module that forces it to obey commands. —Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 16 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English obeien, borrowed from Anglo-French obeir, going back to Latin oboedīre, from ob- "toward, in the direction of" + -oedīre, probably unstressed form (with -oe- of uncertain origin) of audīre "to hear" — more at ob-, audible entry 1

Note: The -oe- in oboedīre is peculiar both because it is not the expected result of -au- in a non-initial syllable (the regular outcome is -ū-) and because -oe- is in any case rare non-initially. Various attempts have been made to account for the irregularity. Reflecting earlier suggestions, Michiel de Vaan hypothesizes pre-Latin *ób-awizdijō > *obowizdijō > *oboizdijō (rounding of a before w, which is then lost, prior to the weakening of a to u) > oboediō (with z blocking monophthongization of -oi- to -ū- before succumbing to cluster reduction) (see Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, Brill, 2008). As an alternative to assumptions of questionable phonetic change, it has also been suggested that a base other than audīre is at issue (Michael Weiss suggests *ob-b^hoi̯diō, from a nominal derivative of the base of fīdere "to trust" [see faith entry 1]; see Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin, 2nd edition, Ann Arbor, 2020, p. 130).

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for obey

• airway
• allay
• archway
• array
• ashtray
• astray
• aue
• away
• ballet
• belay
• beltway
• beret

Kids Definition

obey

verb

ō-ˈbā 

ə-

obeyed; obeying

1

a

: to follow the commands or guidance of

obeyed her parents

b

: to be obedient

trained the dog to obey

2

: to act in agreement with : carry out

obey an order

obey the rules