obedience
noun
- yielding to instructions from an authority figure
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ə(ʊ)ˈbiːdɪəns/ / /oʊˈbidiəns/ / /əˈbidiəns/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English obedience, from Anglo-Norman obedience, from Old French obedience (modern French obédience), from Latin oboedientia. Displaced native Old English hīersumnes (compare modern English hearsomeness). Cognate with obeisance.
- The quality of being obedient.
“Obedience is essential in any army.”
“February 24, 1823, Thomas Jefferson, letter to Mr. Edward Everett Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.”
- The collective body of persons subject to any particular authority.
- A written instruction from the superior of an order to those under him.
- Any official position under an abbot's jurisdiction.