dutiful
Americanadjective
-
performing the duties expected or required of one; characterized by doing one's duty: a dutiful child.
a dutiful citizen;
a dutiful child.
- Synonyms:
- duteous, submissive, obedient, deferential, respectful
-
required by duty; proceeding from or expressive of a sense of duty.
dutiful attention.
adjective
-
exhibiting or having a sense of duty
-
characterized by or resulting from a sense of duty
a dutiful answer
Other Word Forms
- dutifully adverb
- dutifulness noun
- quasi-dutiful adjective
- undutiful adjective
Etymology
Origin of dutiful
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And it carried an implicit warning: If America ever ceases to be as Hilda—godly, uncompromising, moral, dutiful and good—the moss-covered lassitude of Hawthorne’s Rome awaits us too.
Nicholson leading his fellow prisoners of war in dutiful observance of a wartime code of honor.
In truth, the tie-wearing fox only became a cop because of his fondness for Judy, not out of a sense of dutiful conviction.
From Los Angeles Times
Mr. Dyer remained a dutiful son but, sensing that part of his life was now incommunicable to his parents, withheld his most important feelings from them.
"Older generations and state employees maintain dutiful compliance -- observing government mandates for black attire and periods of official grief," he told AFP.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
