obliging

adjective

oblig·​ing ə-ˈblī-jiŋ 

: willing to do favors : helpful

obligingly adverb

obligingness noun

Synonyms

• accommodating
• accommodative
• friendly
• indulgent

Choose the Right Synonym for obliging

amiable, good-natured, obliging, complaisant mean having the desire or disposition to please.

amiable implies having qualities that make one liked and easy to deal with.

an amiable teacher not easily annoyed

good-natured implies cheerfulness or helpfulness and sometimes a willingness to be imposed upon.

a good-natured girl who was always willing to pitch in

obliging stresses a friendly readiness to be helpful.

our obliging innkeeper found us a bigger room

complaisant often implies passivity or a yielding to others because of weakness.

was too complaisant to protest a decision he thought unfair

Examples of obliging in a Sentence

An obliging passerby helped her with her packages.

an obliging concierge used her pull to get us reservations at the town's hottest restaurant

Recent Examples on the Web

On the other end of Blake Street, 39-year-old Marvin McCullough is more obliging to the brigade of journalists parked outside his home. —Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN, 23 Mar. 2025

Before taking a seat, many guests flock to the patio for photos, with staff kindly obliging and offering to take a snap or two. —Colin Wrenn, The Denver Post, 11 Mar. 2025

White acknowledges that the casting of The White Lotus can reinforce the very stratification the show purports to illuminate, wherein the white wealthy guests are badly behaved while the nonwhite characters tend to be the obliging and morally less complicated staffers. —Phoebe Reilly, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2025

They have been bullied and obliging with horrendous individual errors. —Rob Tanner, The Athletic, 8 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

from present participle of oblige

First Known Use

1632, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

obliging

adjective

oblig·​ing

ə-ˈblī-jiŋ

: willing to do favors

obligingly adverb