2 meanings
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1 —as in:
compliant with the law
Definition
conforming to rules- The company was fined for not being regulation 4.3 compliant.
compliant = conforming to rules
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- They're ashamed of having come from noncompliant families.Orson Scott Card -- Ender's Game
- The whitecoat looked surprised at my noncompliance-obviously he hadn't read all of our case notes.James Patterson -- Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
- Be kind enough, then, madame, to act more compliantly.Alexandre Dumas -- The Three Musketeers
- State Noncompliance Leads to Civil WarAlexander Hamilton, James Madison, & John Jay -- The Federalist Papers — Modern English Edition 2
- Along the way doctors had accused her of "noncompliance," and her son had died of tb, more than likely from a strain of the disease that he'd caught from her.Tracy Kidder -- Mountains Beyond Mountains
- The chaplain looked down at the open magazine compliantly and saw an editorial spread dealing with an American bomber group in England whose chaplain said prayers in the briefing room before each mission.Joseph Heller -- Catch-22
- He'd already ruled out noncompliance, he felt, and poor drug quality couldn't be blamed—international experts had certified the drugs' efficacy.Tracy Kidder -- Mountains Beyond Mountains
- One of our shooters was about to cap him for noncompliance.Howard E. Wasdin & Stephen Templin -- I Am a Seal Team Six Warrior
- 9 However, there is an important difference between NONCOMPLIANCE, and DIRECT and ACTIVE RESISTANCE.Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, & John Jay -- The Federalist Papers — Modern English Edition 2
noncompliant = not conforming to rules
2 —as in:
a compliant individual
Definition
to obey rules or do what others want- When the President is popular, the legislature tends to be compliant.
compliant = obeying rules or doing what others want
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- They get a ready supply of compliant low-cost workers.Sonia Nazario -- Enrique's Journey
- ...they were more compliant than American workers, less likely to file workers' compensation claims or to support union organizing drives.Warren St. John -- Outcasts United
- He realized that his mother wasn't the compliant woman he had known before.Robert Cormier -- I Am the Cheese
- Still, to be too compliant may arouse suspicion as well.Suzanne Collins -- Mockingjay
- Washington, with the help of a generally compliant mainstream American press, was busily denouncing Aristide, even manufacturing lies about him,Tracy Kidder -- Mountains Beyond Mountains
- Unlike her compliant older brother, Sonia, seven months old, refuses all the food.Jhumpa Lahiri -- The Namesake
- She had always been the docile middle child, used to following the lead. Next to an alto she sang alto, by a soprano, soprano. Miss Sonrisa, cheerful, compliant. Her life had gotten bound up with a domineering man, and so she shrank from the challenge her sisters were giving her.Julia Alvarez -- In the Time of the Butterflies
- children compliant with the parental will
- Tom's always very compliant to me; I don't think he's so obstinate.Eliot, George -- The Mill on the Floss
compliant = tending to do what others (their bosses) want
compliant = likely to do what others (bosses) wanted
compliant = having a tendency to obey rules or do what others want
compliant = having a tendency to obey rules or do what others want
compliant = tending to do what others (Washington) wanted
compliant = doing what others want
compliant = tending to do what others want
Less commonly:
Compliance, the noun form, is seen 4 times as often as the verb, but is only mentioned explicitly on 1/4 as many SAT review lists.