How to Use compulsory in a Sentence

compulsory

adjective
Definition of compulsorynext
Synonyms for compulsorynext
  • A couple of decades ago, sporting them was compulsory, a rule enforced with beatings by the Taliban.
    — The Economist, 5 Nov. 2020
  • In some of these countries, voting is compulsory, and in most of them, Election Day is a holiday.
    — Cara Korte, CBS News, 26 Oct. 2020
  • In Arizona, school is compulsory, which means state law requires every child between the ages of 6 and 16 to attend school.
    — Lily Altavena, USA TODAY, 30 Oct. 2020
  • There’s also strength in commiseration: When Smucker goes door to door, there’s no need to pitch voting as a kind of compulsory civic duty.
    — Isabel Cristo, The New Republic, 23 Oct. 2020
  • Nationwide, the government imposed a midnight to 5 a.m. curfew and made masks compulsory outdoors.
    — Arkansas Online, 3 Nov. 2020
  • By 1918, every state in the U.S. had passed compulsory education laws.
    — Mary Carole McCauley, baltimoresun.com, 22 Oct. 2020
  • Though not compulsory for a home purchase, lawyers in Panama are required by law to do background checks and other due diligence on their clients, Mr. Candanedo added.
    — New York Times, 4 Nov. 2020
  • Once that is reached, EO-20 will no longer be compulsory.
    — Emily Goodykoontz, Anchorage Daily News, 13 Apr. 2021
  • In the old days, many people who didn’t want to wear the hijab kind of accepted the compulsory hijab, went along with it.
    — Karl Vick, Time, 29 Sep. 2022
  • The act itself—putting a record on to fill the room—felt significantly less compulsory to me.
    — Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 26 Nov. 2021
  • The jerk wings are saucy, spicy, slippery and compulsory eating.
    — Washington Post, 28 June 2021
  • Center-lock wheels are compulsory, for one, and the front and rear anti-roll bars are adjustable through three settings each.
    — Dan Edmunds, Car and Driver, 22 Mar. 2022
  • Most reservists were already in Israel at the time of the call-up – the largest such compulsory mobilization since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
    — Helen Coster and Alexander Cornwell, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Oct. 2023
  • Federal sentencing guidelines, which are not compulsory, called for a prison term in the range of 37 to 46 months.
    — Paul Duggan, Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2022
  • August had come round once more with its compulsory lusciousness, its tang of cherries on the tongue.
    — Deborah Landau, The New Yorker, 20 June 2022
  • He was arrested in 2018 for protesting against the compulsory wearing of the hijab.
    — Reuters, CNN, 12 Feb. 2023
  • None of this convinced the City Council to abandon the compulsory homeless voucher scheme.
    — Michael Goldstein, Forbes, 10 Aug. 2022
  • Schools made liberal use of corporal punishment—a leather strap to the palms in O’Toole’s school, a bamboo cane to the palms in mine—and the teaching of Irish was compulsory.
    — Cullen Murphy, The Atlantic, 14 Mar. 2022
  • To beat a team like Gonzaga, on a night like this, an unbending resolve to win is compulsory.
    — Ryan Black, The Courier-Journal, 21 Nov. 2022
  • And, of course, the compulsory hijab has become a symbol of that struggle in a country where women can’t become judges.
    — Emma Specter, Vogue, 28 Sep. 2022
  • However, what’s taking place on the ground should not be reduced to the women’s compulsory wearing of the headscarf or the bodily rights.
    — Tara Kangarlou, Time, 5 Oct. 2022
  • The point of having blanket compulsory licenses is to streamline the process and avoid a bunch of negotiations that stem the free flow of music.
    — Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2022
  • Here’s the thing, though: Attendance on Friday is not compulsory.
    — Yvonne Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Apr. 2023
  • In the past decade, such threats have led to incidents like acid attacks against women who have not fully adhered to compulsory hijab rules.
    — Somayeh Malekian, ABC News, 8 Apr. 2023
  • In the compulsory paradise of Big Tech, the seduction of convenience wears down ethical resistance, at least in the short term.
    — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 31 July 2023
  • But, Spain has stopped compulsory wearing of mask outdoors.
    — Scroll Staff, Quartz, 29 June 2021
  • Voting is compulsory in Window Shop, so someone had to win.
    — Tony Quiroga, Car and Driver, 29 Apr. 2022
  • The act made filing taxes compulsory for Americans with foreign assets living abroad, despite the fact that many of them do not have strong ties to the United States.
    — Sopan Deb, New York Times, 6 Oct. 2023
  • The court ruled that in the absence of a law, Israel’s compulsory military service applies to the ultra-Orthodox like any other citizen.
    — Tia Goldenberg, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 June 2024
  • Students at the university receive compulsory military training, something that is unique among France’s Grand Écoles.
    — Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune Europe, 24 June 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'compulsory.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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