dictionary

1: having the equatorial diameter greater than the polar diameter; being flattened at the poles [syn: {pumpkin-shaped}] [ant: {prolate}] n : a lay person dedicated to religious work or the religious l...

1: the property possessed by a rounded shape that is flattened at the poles; "the oblateness of the planet" [syn: {ellipticity}]

1: the act of contributing to the funds of a church or charity; "oblations for aid to the poor" [syn: {offering}] 2: the act of offering the bread and wine of the Eucharist [syn: {religious offering}]

1: restricted to a particular condition of life; "an obligate anaerobe can survive only in the absence of OXYGen" [ant: {facultative}] v 1: force or compel somebody to do something; "We compel all stu...

1: an organism that cannot grow in the presence of oxygen

1: caused by law or conscience to follow a certain course; "felt obligated to repay the kindness"; "was obligated to pay off the student loan" [syn: {obligated(p)}] [ant: {unobligated}]

{obligato}

1: the social force that binds you to your obligations and the courses of action demanded by that force; "we must instill a sense of duty in our children"; "every right implies a responsibility; every...

1: relating or constituting or qualified to create a legal or financial obligation; "obligational authority"

1: a persistent but subordinate motif [syn: {obbligato}] 2: a part of the score that must be performed without change or omission [syn: {obbligato}] [also: {obligati} (pl)]

1: in an obligatory manner; "this rule applies obligatorily" [ant: {optionally}] 2: in a manner that cannot be evaded; "the ministry considers that contributions to such a fund should be met from volu...

1: morally or legally constraining or binding; "attendance is obligatory"; "an obligatory contribution" [ant: {optional}] 2: required by obligation or compulsion or convention; "he made all the obliga...

1: force or compel somebody to do something; "We compel all students to fill out this form" [syn: {compel}, {obligate}] 2: bind by an obligation; cause to be indebted; "He's held by a contract"; "I'll...

1: under a moral obligation to do something [syn: {duty-bound(p)}, {obliged(p)}]

1: someone who performs a service or does a favor [syn: {accommodator}]

1: happy to comply [syn: {complying}, {yielding}] 2: showing a cheerful willingness to do favors for others; "to close one's eyes like a complaisant husband whose wife has taken a lover"; "the obligin...

1: in accommodation; "obligingly, he lowered his voice" [syn: {accommodatingly}]

1: a disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others [syn: {complaisance}, {compliance}, {compliancy}, {deference}]

1: slanting or inclined in direction or course or position--neither parallel nor perpendicular nor right-angular; "the oblique rays of the winter sun"; "acute and obtuse angles are oblique angles"; "t...

1: an angle that is not a right angle or a multiple of a right angle [ant: {right angle}]

1: a bandage in which successive turns proceed obliquely up or down a limb

1: any grammatical case other than the nominative [syn: {oblique}] [ant: {nominative}]

1: a triangle that contains no right angle [ant: {right triangle}]

1: a tributary of the coronary sinus; on the posterior wall of the left atrium [syn: {vena obliqua atrii sinistri}]

1: to, toward or at one side; "darting eyes looking sidelong out of a wizened face" [syn: {sidelong}, {sideways}] 2: at an oblique angle; "the sun shone aslant into his face" [syn: {aslant}, {athwart}...

1: the property of being neither parallel nor perpendicular, but at a slanting angle 2: the quality of being oblique and rambling indirectly [syn: {deviousness}]

1: the presentation during labor of the head of the fetus at an abnormal angle [syn: {asynclitism}] 2: the quality of being deceptive [syn: {deceptiveness}]

1: able to be obliterated completely [syn: {removable}]

1: reduced to nothingness [syn: {blotted out}, {obliterated}] v 1: mark for deletion, rub off, or erase; "kill these lines in the President's speech" [syn: {kill}, {wipe out}] 2: make undecipherable o...

1: reduced to nothingness [syn: {blotted out}, {obliterate}]

1: making undecipherable or imperceptible; "obliterating mists"; "an obscurant bank of clouds" [syn: {obscurant}]

1: destruction by annihilating something [syn: {annihilation}] 2: the complete destruction of every trace of something [syn: {eradication}]

1: an eliminator that does away with all traces

1: the state of being disregarded or forgotten [syn: {limbo}] 2: total forgetfulness; "he sought the great oblivion of sleep" [syn: {obliviousness}]

1: (followed by `to' or `of') lacking conscious awareness of; "oblivious of the mounting pressures for political reform"; "oblivious to the risks she ran"; "not unmindful of the heavy responsibility" ...

1: total forgetfulness; "he sought the great oblivion of sleep" [syn: {oblivion}]

1: of a leaf shape; having a somewhat elongated form with approximately parallel sides 2: deviating from a square or circle or sphere by being elongated in one direction n : a plane figure that deviat...

1: rounded at each end with parallel sides

1: a common rock-inhabiting fern of northern temperate regions having rusty-brown stipes and lanceolate pinnate fronds [syn: {rusty woodsia}, {fragrant woodsia}, {Woodsia ilvensis}]

1: the property of being shaped like a rectangle [syn: {rectangularity}]

1: state of disgrace resulting from public abuse [syn: {opprobrium}] 2: a malicious attack [syn: {defamation}, {calumny}, {traducement}, {hatchet job}]

1: causing disapproval or protest; "a vulgar and objectionable person" [syn: {objectionable}, {unpleasant}]

1: in an obnoxious manner; "he said so in one of his more offensively intellectually arrogant sentences" [syn: {offensively}, {objectionably}]

1: the quality of being hateful [syn: {hatefulness}, {objectionableness}]

1: make less visible or unclear; "The stars are obscured by the clouds" [syn: {obscure}, {befog}, {becloud}, {haze over}, {fog}, {cloud}, {mist}] 2: make unclear, indistinct, or blurred; "Her remarks ...

1: a slender double-reed instrument; a woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece [syn: {hautboy}, {hautbois}]

1: a oboe pitched a minor third lower than the ordinary oboe; used to perform baroque music

1: an alto oboe; precursor of the English horn

1: a musician who plays the oboe

{obolus}

1: a Greek unit of weight equal to one tenth of a gram [also: {oboli} (pl)]

1: of a leaf shape; egg-shaped with the narrower end at the base

1: egg-shaped with the narrower end at the base

1: designed to incite to indecency or lust; "the dance often becomes flagrantly obscene"- Margaret Mead 2: offensive to the mind; "an abhorrent deed"; "the obscene massacre at Wounded Knee"; "morally ...

1: to an obscene degree; "this man is obscenely rich" 2: in a lewd and obscene manner; "he had seen how in their dances the white men and women held one another obscenely" [syn: {lewdly}]

1: the trait of behaving in an obscene manner [syn: {lewdness}, {bawdiness}, {salaciousness}, {salacity}] 2: an offensive or indecent word or phrase [syn: {vulgarism}, {dirty word}] 3: an obscene act

1: making undecipherable or imperceptible; "obliterating mists"; "an obscurant bank of clouds" [syn: {obliterating}]

1: a policy of opposition to enlightenment or the spread of knowledge 2: a deliberate act intended to make something obscure

1: a person who is deliberately vague

1: not clearly understood or expressed; "an obscure turn of phrase"; "an impulse to go off and fight certain obscure battles of his own spirit"-Anatole Broyard; "their descriptions of human behavior b...