How to Use compulsory in a Sentence

compulsory

adjective
  • When two viruses infect the same cell at the same time such swaps are more or less compulsory.
    The Economist, 20 Aug. 2020
  • In red zones, the authorities are able to make masks compulsory outdoors and close bar.
    Matias Grez, CNN, 28 Aug. 2020
  • Rest assured that no one will attend your wedding who doesn’t want to be there because attendance is not compulsory.
    Abigail Van Buren, oregonlive, 27 Aug. 2020
  • There should be a compulsory living wage for sustainable farming roles and more work to reduce pesticide and fertiliser use.
    Christopher Marquis, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
  • The state also will require museums to control the flow of traffic through their buildings, and face coverings will be compulsory.
    Julia Jacobs, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2020
  • In Marseille, France’s second-largest city, masks are now compulsory everywhere.
    William Horobin, Bloomberg.com, 29 Aug. 2020
  • In Australia, where voting is compulsory by law, political parties from across the spectrum pushed voters to vote by mail in regional elections this year.
    Adam Taylor, Washington Post, 17 Aug. 2020
  • Germany has begun compulsory coronavirus testing for all travelers arriving at its airports from high-risk countries.
    Karla Adam, Washington Post, 2 Sep. 2020
  • France, which had brought its outbreak under control through strict lockdown measures, issued a compulsory face mask order in dozens of Parisian streets and tourist areas on Monday.
    Eliza MacKintosh, CNN, 11 Aug. 2020
  • Masks are now mandatory for companies with groups working in enclosed spaces and cities from Paris to Marseilles are making masks compulsory, even outside.
    Francois De Beaupuy, Bloomberg.com, 5 Sep. 2020
  • Once that is reached, EO-20 will no longer be compulsory.
    Emily Goodykoontz, Anchorage Daily News, 13 Apr. 2021
  • In the old days, many people who didn’t want to wear the hijab kind of accepted the compulsory hijab, went along with it.
    Karl Vick, Time, 29 Sep. 2022
  • The act itself—putting a record on to fill the room—felt significantly less compulsory to me.
    Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 26 Nov. 2021
  • The jerk wings are saucy, spicy, slippery and compulsory eating.
    Washington Post, 28 June 2021
  • Center-lock wheels are compulsory, for one, and the front and rear anti-roll bars are adjustable through three settings each.
    Dan Edmunds, Car and Driver, 22 Mar. 2022
  • Most reservists were already in Israel at the time of the call-up – the largest such compulsory mobilization since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
    Helen Coster and Alexander Cornwell, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Oct. 2023
  • Federal sentencing guidelines, which are not compulsory, called for a prison term in the range of 37 to 46 months.
    Paul Duggan, Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2022
  • August had come round once more with its compulsory lusciousness, its tang of cherries on the tongue.
    Deborah Landau, The New Yorker, 20 June 2022
  • He was arrested in 2018 for protesting against the compulsory wearing of the hijab.
    Reuters, CNN, 12 Feb. 2023
  • None of this convinced the City Council to abandon the compulsory homeless voucher scheme.
    Michael Goldstein, Forbes, 10 Aug. 2022
  • Schools made liberal use of corporal punishment—a leather strap to the palms in O’Toole’s school, a bamboo cane to the palms in mine—and the teaching of Irish was compulsory.
    Cullen Murphy, The Atlantic, 14 Mar. 2022
  • In Arizona, school is compulsory, which means state law requires every child between the ages of 6 and 16 to attend school.
    Lily Altavena, USA TODAY, 30 Oct. 2020
  • In some of these countries, voting is compulsory, and in most of them, Election Day is a holiday.
    Cara Korte, CBS News, 26 Oct. 2020
  • A couple of decades ago, sporting them was compulsory, a rule enforced with beatings by the Taliban.
    The Economist, 5 Nov. 2020
  • To beat a team like Gonzaga, on a night like this, an unbending resolve to win is compulsory.
    Ryan Black, The Courier-Journal, 21 Nov. 2022
  • And, of course, the compulsory hijab has become a symbol of that struggle in a country where women can’t become judges.
    Emma Specter, Vogue, 28 Sep. 2022
  • However, what’s taking place on the ground should not be reduced to the women’s compulsory wearing of the headscarf or the bodily rights.
    Tara Kangarlou, Time, 5 Oct. 2022
  • The point of having blanket compulsory licenses is to streamline the process and avoid a bunch of negotiations that stem the free flow of music.
    Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2022
  • Here’s the thing, though: Attendance on Friday is not compulsory.
    Yvonne Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Apr. 2023
  • In some countries, voting is compulsory, and citizens are given the day off to cast their ballots.
    Annabella Rosciglione, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 14 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'compulsory.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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