Etymology

mandatory

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Today it means: obligatory; required or commanded by authority. Full definition →

Late Latin mandatorius
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The story

  1. Late Latin · derived frommandatorius“of or belonging to a mandator”
  2. English todaymandatory

From Late Latin mandatorius (“of or belonging to a mandator”), from mandātor (“one who commands”), equivalent to mandate + -ory; see mandate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.