mandatory
/ˈmæn.dəˌtɔɹ.i/adjective, noun
mandatory is spelled M-A-N-D-A-T-O-R-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is manditory: about 230 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 17 of all searches for the word. Mandatory is an adjective meaning “obligatory; required or commanded by authority”.
How many letters and syllables are in mandatory?
| Letters | 9: M-A-N-D-A-T-O-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 5,778th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, manditory, about 230 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell mandatory?
Mandatory is spelled M-A-N-D-A-T-O-R-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 17 of the searches for mandatory in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is mandatory?
Mandatory appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,778th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce mandatory?
- UK /ˈmæn.də.t(ə)ɹi/
- UK /mænˈdeɪ.tə.ɹi/
- US /ˈmæn.dəˌtɔɹ.i/
Mandatory has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-mandatory.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mandatory
- more mandatory comparative
- most mandatory superlative
- mandatories plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mandatory mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
obligatory; required or commanded by authority.
Attendance at a school is usually mandatory for children.
- 2
Of, being or relating to a mandate.
Mandatory Palestine
noun
- 1
A sign or line that require the path of the disc to be above, below or to one side of it.
- 2
datedrareA person, organisation or state who receives a mandate; a mandatary.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate mandatory?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of mandatory: mando.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mandatory in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense obligatory – see also obligatory, compulsory:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | obligatoire, requis |
| German | obligatorisch, vorgeschrieben, zwingend notwendig |
| Portuguese | obrigatório, mandatório |
| Spanish | obligatorio, necesario, mandatorio |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does mandatory come from?
From Late Latin mandatorius (“of or belonging to a mandator”), from mandātor (“one who commands”), equivalent to mandate + -ory; see mandate.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).