obligation

obligation 1 Obligation, duty are comparable when they denote what a person is bound to do or refrain from doing or for the performañce or nonperformance of which he is held responsible.

In ordinary usage obligation typically implies immediate constraint and a specific reference

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he is under the obligation of supporting his aged mother

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the place in which folk assembled not only for worship but for the fulfillment of many other social obligations, civic, educational, and recreative— Raven

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it was plain that Greene was carrying out what he regarded as a fixed obligation— Basso

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the Ralstons fulfilled their obligations as rich and respected citizens— Wharton

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Duty, on the other hand, often suggests less compulsion from immediate circumstances but a greater impulsion on moral or ethical grounds; thus, a person weighed down by a sense of duty is keenly aware of what in general he ought to do; one has a sense of obligation only in a particular case and for a particular reason

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Stern Daughter of the Voice of God! O Dutyl if that name thou love who art a light to guide, a rod to check the erring— Wordsworth

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the old statesman was now in a sad frame of mind, torn between duty and self-interest— Buchan

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Russell tries hard to find a place for duty in his system; he suggests that we "ought" to do the act that would through its consequences satisfy the widest range of human desires— Brand Blanshard

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Analogous words: compulsion, constraint, restraint (see FORCE n): responsibility, accountability, answerability (see corresponding adjectives at RESPONSIBLE)

2 *debt, indebtedness, liability, debit, arrear

Analogous words: burden, *load: promising or promise, engagement, pledging or pledge (see corresponding verbs at PROMISE)