Definition of "obligate"

obligate

/ˈɒb.lɪˌɡeɪt/

verb
third-person singular simple present obligates, present participle obligating, simple past and past participle obligated
1. (transitive, Canada, US, Scotland) To bind, compel, constrain, or oblige by a social, legal, or moral tie.
2. (transitive, Canada, US, Scotland) To cause to be grateful or indebted; to oblige.
3. (transitive, Canada, US, Scotland) To commit (money, for example) in order to fulfill an obligation.
adjective
comparative more obligate, superlative most obligate
1. (biology) Requiring a (specified) way of life, habitat, etc..
  Quotations
  [A]nalysis of the chemical composition of their bones reveals that they were obligate carnivores.
  2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 171
2. Indispensable; essential; necessary; obligatory; mandatory; unavoidably invoked.
  Quotations
  Aquatic sites constitute obligate habitat for some species, and are critical breeding habitat for species with complex life cycles involving aquatic egg or larval development.
  2009, C. Kenneth Dodd Jr., Amphibian Ecology and Conservation: A Handbook of Techniques, page 304
  Unlike for phagotrophic flagellates, bacteria serve as a facultative rather than an obligate food source for crustacean zooplankton.
  2012, Ulrich Sommer, Plankton Ecology: Succession in Plankton Communities, page 351
  Light is the obligate energy source for the phototrophic microbes constructing these benthic mats
  2013, K.C. Marshall, editor, Advances in Microbial Ecology, volume 11, page 472

Definition of "obligate"

obligate

verb

adjective

Quotations

Quotations