OBEDIENCE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Obedience

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/oʊbˈidiəns/ Listen

noun

Obedience n.

The act of obeying, or the state of being obedient; compliance with that which is required by authority; subjection to rightful restraint or control. "Government must compel the obedience of individuals."

Words or actions denoting submission to authority; dutifulness.

(Eccl.)

(a)

A following; a body of adherents; as, the Roman Catholic obedience, or the whole body of persons who submit to the authority of the pope.

(b)

A cell (or offshoot of a larger monastery) governed by a prior.

(c)

One of the three monastic vows.

(d)

The written precept of a superior in a religious order or congregation to a subject.

Canonical obedience. See under Canonical.

Passive obedience. See under Passive.

See images of 'Obedience'

Etymology of 'Obedience'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Obedience" Quotes from Famous Books

... trait had found its culmination, perhaps, in the hero of this tale. He was justly proud of his old and unstained name; he was proud of those who bore it with him, and he honored his father and mother, not in obedience to a command, but because every one honored them; and if his sister was a little cold and stately, she embodied his ideas of refinement and cultivation; he was proud of his social position, of his talent—for he knew he had that much, at least—and ...

— A Face Illumined • E. P. Roe

... that divided against themselves as they moved down the cycles in the same attitude as towards the Roman catholic religion, the attitude of a dull-witted loyal serf. Whatsoever of thought or of feeling came to him from England or by way of English culture his mind stood armed against in obedience to a password; and of the world that lay beyond England he knew only the foreign legion of France in which he ...

— A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man • James Joyce

... carried it on. Every fraud was used to deceive the ignorance of the natives by false weights and measures, adulterated commodities, and other impositions of a like sort. These frauds were even acknowledged by many who had themselves practised them, in obedience to the orders of their superiors. For the honour of the mercantile character of the country, such a traffic ought ...

— The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the - Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, by the British Parliament (1839) • Thomas Clarkson

... master? Or is it the master who has not understood his dog? The right footing must be established from the outset; the dog must understand that he has to obey in everything, and the master must know how to make himself respected. If obedience is once established, I am convinced that the dog will be superior to all other draught animals ...

— The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2 • Roald Amundsen

... sacrifice"; men "began to call upon the name of the Lord" (Gen. 4:26); Enoch "walked with God" and "was translated that he should not see death"; while Noah, "a preacher of righteousness," was "perfect in his generation" and "condemned the world" by his preaching and obedience. The second dispensation was graced with a faithful Abraham, who "staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith," from which circumstance he was called "the friend of God" and has justly received the title "father of the faithful." ...

— The Revelation Explained • F. Smith

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