Obey
verb
To follow instructions or rules.
You must obey the traffic rules to avoid accidents.
Often appears as...
- obey the law
- obey orders
verb
To do what you are told or expected to do.
Children are expected to obey their parents.
Often appears as...
- obey commands
- obey a call
verb
When a system or machine operates in a way that follows a particular set of rules or instructions.
A computer obeys the commands given by the user.
Often appears as...
- obey instructions
- obey protocol
verb
When a physical object or system follows the laws or principles of nature.
Light obeys the laws of physics.
Often appears as...
- obey the laws of physics
- obey natural laws
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
verb
To follow instructions or rules.
You must obey the traffic rules to avoid accidents.
Often appears as...
- obey the law
- obey orders
verb
To do what you are told or expected to do.
Children are expected to obey their parents.
Often appears as...
- obey commands
- obey a call
verb
When a system or machine operates in a way that follows a particular set of rules or instructions.
A computer obeys the commands given by the user.
Often appears as...
- obey instructions
- obey protocol
verb
When a physical object or system follows the laws or principles of nature.
Light obeys the laws of physics.
Often appears as...
- obey the laws of physics
- obey natural laws
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/2Legal context
Often used regarding laws or authority figures, implying a formal obligation.
Citizens must obey the new regulations.
Pro Tip 2/2Imperative tone
The word can imply a command, often coming from a place of power or hierarchy.
The officer said, 'Obey the order immediately.'
Pro Tip 1/2Legal context
Often used regarding laws or authority figures, implying a formal obligation.
Citizens must obey the new regulations.
Pro Tip 2/2Imperative tone
The word can imply a command, often coming from a place of power or hierarchy.
The officer said, 'Obey the order immediately.'
Pro Tip 1/2Legal context
Often used regarding laws or authority figures, implying a formal obligation.
Citizens must obey the new regulations.
Pro Tip 2/2Imperative tone
The word can imply a command, often coming from a place of power or hierarchy.
The officer said, 'Obey the order immediately.'
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Video examples
The psychology of evil PIPE...
to blindly obey authority, to go all the way to 450 volts. And it's like a dial on human nature. A dial in a sense that you can make almost everybody totally obedient, down to the majority, down to none. What are the external parallels? For all research is artificial. What's the validity in the real world?
Video examples
Questions No One Knows...
We can think of them as part of our universe. They make up a single, giant edifice obeying the same physical laws and all made from the same types of atoms, electrons, protons, quarks, neutrinos, that make up you and me. However, recent theories in physics, including one called string theory,
Video examples
What can Schrödinger's...
for information to pass from one particle to the other indicating which way to spin to obey the rules of entanglement. It's not surprising then that entanglement is at the core of quantum information science, a growing field studying how to use the laws of the strange quantum world
Video examples
The most groundbreaking...
His vision, uncluttered by speculation or rationalization, went deep. Steno had seen how gallstones form in wet organs by accretion. They obeyed molding principles he knew from the goldsmith trade, rules useful across disciplines for understanding solids
Video examples
How many universes are...
with different properties, obeying different laws. Most of these universes could never support life, and might flash in and out of existence in a nanosecond, but nonetheless, combined they make up a vast multiverse of possible universes.
Video examples
The danger of AI is...
In movies, when something goes wrong with AI, it's usually because the AI has decided that it doesn't want to obey the humans anymore, and it's got its own goals, thank you very much. In real life, though, the AI that we actually have
Video examples
Becoming John Gotti's...
in the back of your conscience, you're saying, am I going to do this, really? Am I going to take this guy's life? And the other side of me is saying, you promised. You don't obey this order, somebody I trust is going to kill me, too.
Video examples
Your words may predict...
And he made this claim based on the fact that the first humans described in these books behaved consistently, in different traditions and in different places of the world, as if they were hearing and obeying voices
Video examples
What would it be like if...
in a good place you go into this kingdom of heaven forever but if you assemble along the way you might not get there immediately but you'll get there eventually and if any if you don't obey
Video examples
This is what it's like...
and making an evidence-based argument to prove it. These students, however, were simply told what to think, and they obeyed. In their world, critical thinking was not allowed.
Video examples
The psychology of evil PIPE...
to blindly obey authority, to go all the way to 450 volts. And it's like a dial on human nature. A dial in a sense that you can make almost everybody totally obedient, down to the majority, down to none. What are the external parallels? For all research is artificial. What's the validity in the real world?
Video examples
Questions No One Knows...
We can think of them as part of our universe. They make up a single, giant edifice obeying the same physical laws and all made from the same types of atoms, electrons, protons, quarks, neutrinos, that make up you and me. However, recent theories in physics, including one called string theory,
Video examples
What can Schrödinger's...
for information to pass from one particle to the other indicating which way to spin to obey the rules of entanglement. It's not surprising then that entanglement is at the core of quantum information science, a growing field studying how to use the laws of the strange quantum world
Video examples
The most groundbreaking...
His vision, uncluttered by speculation or rationalization, went deep. Steno had seen how gallstones form in wet organs by accretion. They obeyed molding principles he knew from the goldsmith trade, rules useful across disciplines for understanding solids
Video examples
How many universes are...
with different properties, obeying different laws. Most of these universes could never support life, and might flash in and out of existence in a nanosecond, but nonetheless, combined they make up a vast multiverse of possible universes.
Video examples
The danger of AI is...
In movies, when something goes wrong with AI, it's usually because the AI has decided that it doesn't want to obey the humans anymore, and it's got its own goals, thank you very much. In real life, though, the AI that we actually have
Video examples
Becoming John Gotti's...
in the back of your conscience, you're saying, am I going to do this, really? Am I going to take this guy's life? And the other side of me is saying, you promised. You don't obey this order, somebody I trust is going to kill me, too.
Video examples
Your words may predict...
And he made this claim based on the fact that the first humans described in these books behaved consistently, in different traditions and in different places of the world, as if they were hearing and obeying voices
Video examples
What would it be like if...
in a good place you go into this kingdom of heaven forever but if you assemble along the way you might not get there immediately but you'll get there eventually and if any if you don't obey
Video examples
This is what it's like...
and making an evidence-based argument to prove it. These students, however, were simply told what to think, and they obeyed. In their world, critical thinking was not allowed.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Sparky Anderson
American Coach
The only thing I believe is this: A player does not have to like a manager and he does not have to respect a manager. All he has to do is obey the rules.
Quote examples
Janet Jackson
American Musician
I wanted to be on my own and get out of the house. We were the kind of kids that - we - obeyed our parents. If they said no, you don't ask why.
Quote examples
David Hume
Scottish Philosopher
Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.
Quote examples
Paul de Man
Belgian Critic
Literature exists at the same time in the modes of error and truth; it both betrays and obeys its own mode of being.
Quote examples
Marcel Proust
French Author
Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
Quote examples
Gustav Mahler
Austrian Composer
I was a crazy young man who let himself be blinded by his passions and obeyed only the impulses of the moment.
Quote examples
Joseph Roux
French Clergyman
Reason guides but a small part of man, and the rest obeys feeling, true or false, and passion, good or bad.
Quote examples
Ferdinand Buisson
French Activist
A human society obeys the dictates of reason and is guided and governed by a respect for justice.
Quote examples
James Freeman Clarke
American Clergyman
Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience.
Quote examples
John Bigelow
American Lawyer
And, if there was any responsibility in refusing to obey, he was willing to accept it.
Quote examples
Sparky Anderson
American Coach
The only thing I believe is this: A player does not have to like a manager and he does not have to respect a manager. All he has to do is obey the rules.
Quote examples
Janet Jackson
American Musician
I wanted to be on my own and get out of the house. We were the kind of kids that - we - obeyed our parents. If they said no, you don't ask why.
Quote examples
David Hume
Scottish Philosopher
Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.
Quote examples
Paul de Man
Belgian Critic
Literature exists at the same time in the modes of error and truth; it both betrays and obeys its own mode of being.
Quote examples
Marcel Proust
French Author
Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
Quote examples
Gustav Mahler
Austrian Composer
I was a crazy young man who let himself be blinded by his passions and obeyed only the impulses of the moment.
Quote examples
Joseph Roux
French Clergyman
Reason guides but a small part of man, and the rest obeys feeling, true or false, and passion, good or bad.
Quote examples
Ferdinand Buisson
French Activist
A human society obeys the dictates of reason and is guided and governed by a respect for justice.
Quote examples
James Freeman Clarke
American Clergyman
Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience.
Quote examples
John Bigelow
American Lawyer
And, if there was any responsibility in refusing to obey, he was willing to accept it.
Example 1 of 10
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