compliance

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəmˈplaɪ.əns/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from comply and -ance.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Civility, complaisance: 1641 in the OED, the 1640s in Etymonline;^[5][2] MWU dates it to about 1630.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century it meant agreement or concord (1647) and agreement in nature (1649), senses now obsolete.^[5] Deferential or servile agreement with a person is from 1648.^[5] Acting in accordance with a request, condition or rule is from 1647,^[5] the main modern sense,^[6] and in a bad sense, unworthy submission, from 1665.^[5] In physics, the ability of a material to bend under force, the opposite of stiffness, is a later technical sense.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1630 – first use (MWU).^[3]
• 1641 – civility (obsolete).^[5]
• 1647 – acting in accordance with a rule.^[5]
• 1648 – deferential agreement.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of obeying a rule, request or order.
2. Conformity with legal and regulatory requirements: compliance with safety standards.
3. Willingness to yield to others; submission.

Word family

• overcompliance

Related words

• compliant
• comply
• complaisance
• non-compliance

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins