Synonym Chooser

How is the word obedient different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of obedient are amenable, docile, and tractable. While all these words mean "submissive to the will of another," obedient implies compliance with the demands or requests of one in authority.

obedient to the government

When is amenable a more appropriate choice than obedient?

The words amenable and obedient can be used in similar contexts, but amenable suggests a willingness to yield or cooperate because of a desire to be agreeable or because of a natural open-mindedness.

amenable to new ideas

When is it sensible to use docile instead of obedient?

Although the words docile and obedient have much in common, docile implies a predisposition to submit readily to control or guidance.

a docile child

Where would tractable be a reasonable alternative to obedient?

In some situations, the words tractable and obedient are roughly equivalent. However, tractable suggests having a character that permits easy handling or managing.

tractable animals

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of obedient Even so, our exercises did not suggest that any authoritarian would command a uniformly obedient federal workforce. Barton Gellman, Washington Post, 30 July 2024 In this election year, there is nothing more slavishly obedient than indifference. Robert Repino, Baltimore Sun, 26 July 2024 Most Christians view these verses as anachronistic and subject to historical context, much like other Biblical passages on stoning adulterers to death and ordering slaves to be obedient to their masters. Eliza Griswold, The New Yorker, 12 June 2024 The tennis balls had been stashed away safely by the time 2,500 dogs and their obedient human entourages overtook the U.S.T.A. Callie Holtermann, New York Times, 13 May 2024 See All Example Sentences for obedient
Recent Examples of Synonyms for obedient
Adjective
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibition (March 25) takes a wary view of its own contents, which span half a millennium, arguing that the West acted out its daydreams of a docile Orient one cup-and-saucer at a time.
    Shauna Lyon, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Mark is taller and brighter than Darren but infinitely more docile and far less street-smart.
    Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 12 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Washington has become the court of Nero: an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers, and a buffoon on ketamine tasked with purging the civil service.
    Claude Malhuret, The Atlantic, 8 Mar. 2025
  • However, these works — all written by men — portrayed Veronika as a fragile, submissive woman, passively awaiting her fate.
    Leo Barraclough, Variety, 14 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Oil and gas that is not compliant would face a 10% tariff.
    Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 12 Mar. 2025
  • Trump delayed the original duties until March, and then added another one-month reprieve for all vehicles compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) rules of origin.
    Nora Eckert, USA TODAY, 11 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Disney is boosting its advertising capabilities for live events, with third-party partnerships, a new certification program for live sports and entertainment as well as biddable deals for live sports.
    Dade Hayes, Deadline, 6 Jan. 2025
  • The technical review is meant to evaluate the structure’s design to ensure that a project is biddable, buildable, cost-effective and maintainable.
    Sherry Greenfield, Baltimore Sun, 6 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • His restrained direction keeps the brothers in check and underpowered.
    Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2025
  • The statement, written by lawmakers who are typically more restrained in their comments given their sensitive roles on security issues, contained some of the party’s most pointed criticism yet of Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk just hours before the president was to address a joint session of Congress.
    Carl Hulse, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • In particular, embodiments describe protective cover layer structures that may be implemented in curved, flexible, conformable and foldable display modules, and in particular with curved, flexible, conformable and foldable display panels.
    Chris Smith, BGR, 6 Apr. 2021
  • Is this suit more conformable than the costume from Revenge of the Sith?
    Ryan Parker, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 June 2022
Adjective
  • Medical researchers have made these images tractable for CNNs by breaking them up into much smaller fragments—square tiles, for example.
    IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 23 Aug. 2021
  • When the pandemic blew everything up, situations that seemed intractable (the need to go to the office every day, for example) suddenly proved surprisingly tractable.
    Ada Calhoun, TIME, 12 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • President Trump has been amenable to Libertarian concerns.
    Jenna McLaughlin, NPR, 21 Jan. 2025
  • Though the Post was amenable to publishing the inside ad, Common Cause told the paper to forget it and walked away.
    Liam Reilly, CNN, 17 Feb. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Obedient.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obedient. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

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