Definition of "obligate" in English

verb

1. (transitive) 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

1. (biology) Requiring a (specified) way of life, habitat, etc.

2. Indispensable; essential; necessary; obligatory; mandatory; unavoidably invoked.

   • In addition to being the obligate food source for monarch caterpillars, milkweeds also provide abundant nectar for the adult butterflies.
   • In some languages such signaling is optional, whereas in others it is obligate.

3. (obsolete) Bound by oath, law or duty.

noun

1. (biology) An obligate organism.