Hi
I’m trying to find good definitions to distinguish between
“obliged” and “obligated”. What is the difference?
"Obliged"to me means that I’m duty-bound to do something, but that it is by no means mandatory. “Obligated” to me means that I must do something/perform a certain task.
I look forward to your feedback
davidmich
The internet consensus seems to be that “obliged” is generally a softer version of obligated – where not doing the action only has an emotional or moral penalty, as opposed to obligated which has a concrete penalty. You’re obliged to call your mom on mother’s day, you’re obligated to call into work if you’re sick.
The internet also notes, incidentally, that this distinction is rarely followed in practice and at this point is more or less nonexistent.
I have always thought “obligated” is a back-formation from “obligation” and the correct term has always been “obliged.” Most people aren’t aware of that and instead use the wrong word.
cf. “Alternative”
As Guanolad said, “obligate” is a non-standard word. I think its usage is more acceptable in American English than in British English, where it is just plain incorrect.
The same thing applies to “orientate” / “orient”.
Obligate is a perfectly crommulent word.
Cite:
If it’s a good enough word for the highest court in the United States to use, it’s good enough for the rest of us.
US obligate = UK oblige
US orient = UK orientate
Language is weird.
“Oblige” is the older word. It means to bind somebody to do something (or not do it). It could refer to a legal obligation, even a physical compulsion, but it could also refer to a social obligation or an obligation of courtesy. Eventually its meaning was extended to doing a favour for someone, the implication being that they were bound in courtesy to do some (unspecified) favour in return, should the occasion arise. Thus you could ask a taller person to “oblige” you by getting something down from high shelf that you were unable to reach. Or, if somebody did a courtesy for you, you could acknowledge it by saying “I’m very much obliged”, without specifying anything that you were actually obliged to do.
The word “oblige” had acquired this “social” sense by the mid-sixteenth century, though without losing the stronger sense. Not by coincidence the word “obligate” appears at this time. It is, as others have said, a back-formation from “obligation” and it means, basically, oblige, but only in the stronger sense - to oblige legally, or to impose a clear and strong moral obligation.
There is no sense of “obligate” in which “oblige” is not equally acceptable, and in fact in British English “obligate” has more or less fallen into disuse for the past 200 years or so; “oblige” is used instead, and “obligate” now sounds distinctly American to British ears.
Or American beliefs about British English are.
Um. I’m surrounded by British people. They use “oblige” and “orientate”. They do not use “orient” and “obligate”. So “beliefs” have nothing to do with it.
The British National Corpus has 30 hits for “obligated” and 44 for “orientate” so while they’re certainly not common, they’re definitely a part of SBE. I believe the BNC was last updated in 2007 so it’s possible that rates would be even higher now.
I am a British person, living surrounded by British people, in Britain. I don’t say “orientate”, and regard it as barbarous. I might say “obligate” in certain contexts.
njtt In which contexts would you use “obligate” and/or “oblige” ?
davidmich
Obligated is Obliged with teeth.
Clearly it’s not universal then. But I’ve never heard a Brit say “orient” and I’ve lived here 17 years.
I’m a native speaker of US English and I agree with these meanings. They are connotative and the difference colors the meaning in concert with the context of the word - there can be gray areas.
“Obliged” implies that one has a moral, ethical, or social duty to perform some act. The penalty for shirking the duty is social ostracism, being yelled at/told off, being talked about behind your back, or something similar to that.
“Obligated” implies that one has a legal, organizational policy related, contractual, or religious duty to perform some act. The penalty for shirking the duty is a legal judgment, a fine, incarceration, deportation, firing, institutional discipline, formal censure, formal letter of reprimand, excommunication, formal church shunning (i.e. the church has specifically denounced you by name, not just that the Chair of the Ladies Sewing Circle won’t return your emails anymore), etc.
For examples, public school teachers in most jurisdictions are obligated to report suspected child abuse to the police or child protective services. They are generally obliged to behave generally in a socially acceptable manner for a person of that dignity, upholding citizenship virtues, voting, not using excessively foul language, not sleeping around, and supporting intellectual growth, literacy, and academic rigor in general.
I read it on the Internet, it must be true.
US English speaker here.
The verb is “orient”. The noun is “orientation”.
For example:
Please orient the theater spotlights as indicated in the script. I will be back in a half hour to verify their orientation.