Compliance — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

Compliance (noun) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

1. a readiness or willingness to yield to the wishes of others

   "a strong-willed pop star who is not known for her compliance"

   similar: acquiescence, biddability, compliancy, deference, docility, obedience, submissiveness
   related: amenability, amiability, complaisance, good-naturedness, obsequiousness, servility, slavishness, subservience, subserviency, conformity, cooperativeness, receptiveness, receptivity, humoring, indulgence, acceptance, assent, consent, capitulation, submission, surrender, affability, amicability, congeniality, cordiality, friendliness, geniality, sociability
   opposite: defiance, disobedience, intractability, recalcitrance
   near: animosity, antipathy, enmity, hostility, ill will

2. a bending to the authority or control of another

   "an administrator who demands prompt and unquestioning compliance from subordinates"

   similar: conformity, obedience, submission, subordination
   related: abidance, agreeability, amenability, teachableness, tractability, tractableness, trainability, acquiescence, capitulation, obeisance, obsequiousness, submissiveness, surrender, yielding, deference, docility, dutifulness, humility, meekness, modesty, servility, slavishness, subordinateness, subservience, subserviency, inhibition, repression, restraint, suppression, control, discipline, order
   opposite: balkiness, contrariness, contumacy, defiance, disobedience, frowardness, insubordination, intractability, noncompliance, obstreperousness, rebelling, rebellion, rebelliousness, recalcitrance, refractoriness, self-will, unruliness, waywardness, willfulness
   near: noncooperation, recusancy, disrespect, impudence, insolence, rudeness, insurgence, insurgency, insurrection, mutiny, outbreak, revolt, hardheadedness, mulishness, mutinousness, obstinacy, obstinateness, perversity, pigheadedness, stubbornness, misbehavior, mischievousness, naughtiness, dissent, dissidence

3. the following of a custom, rule, or law

   "compliance with the statute was far from universal"

   similar: abidance, adherence, conformance, conformity, keeping, obedience, observance, observation
   related: deference, honor, regard, respect, upholding, accession, acquiescence, submission, surrender, attendance, attention, heed, notice
   opposite: breach, contravention, infraction, infringement, nonobservance, transgression, trespass, violation
   near: brush-off, disregard, ignoring, delinquency, dereliction, forgetting, neglect, overlooking, offense, sin, wrong, challenge, defiance, flouting, rebellion