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comply

verb

Simple meaning

To yield assent.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kuhmply

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

kəmpˈlaɪ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. To yield assent; to accord; to acquiesce, agree, consent; to adapt oneself, to conform.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To yield assent; to accord; to acquiesce, agree, consent; to adapt oneself, to conform.

Used this way, comply is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

fully complycomply strictlycomply therewith

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • acquiesce

    To agree or express agreement.

  • assent

    To agree to a proposal.

  • accede

    To agree or assent to a proposal or a view.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • compnounBase word

    An intensive examination testing a student's proficiency in some special field of knowledge.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • compliantadjectiveRelated term

    Inclined to comply.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to yield assent

abide byaccedeacquiesce

Antonyms

Sense: to yield assent

dissent

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.