How to Use mandatory in a Sentence

mandatory

1 of 2 adjective
  • That was mandatory in our house.
    — CBS News, 3 June 2026
  • So congrats to all on your mandatory gap years.
    — Kathleen Perricone, Entertainment Weekly, 18 June 2026
  • Saving room for the olive oil cake is mandatory.
    — Stacey Lastoe, Southern Living, 24 Oct. 2025
  • In states without right-to-work laws, those dues are mandatory.
    — Kelly Chen, The Conversation, 4 Nov. 2025
  • That’s a mandatory part of our booking.
    — Ben Smith, semafor.com, 9 Jan. 2026
  • Pressure canning is mandatory for foods that are low in acid, such as green beans.
    — Andrea Beck, Better Homes & Gardens, 1 May 2026
  • Last year, the books in question were not mandatory in every class.
    — Nicole Asbury, Washington Post, 24 Aug. 2023
  • While the fuel is now available, its use is not mandatory.
    — Karen Morfitt, CBS News, 17 Feb. 2026
  • This is a mandatory clause in all contracts for those players.
    — Daniel Popper, New York Times, 1 May 2026
  • In June, the team will hold a mandatory minicamp.
    — Chantz Martin, FOXNews.com, 2 May 2026
  • Each of the three counts of child abuse carries a mandatory sentence of four to eight years.
    — Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 27 June 2026
  • Gage said that in Atilano’s case, those shifts were mandatory.
    — Alene Tchekmedyian, Los Angeles Times, 9 Dec. 2023
  • But in the match’s two mandatory hydration breaks, loud boos rained down from the stands.
    — Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 18 June 2026
  • And there's mandatory minimum jail time, at least five days, all the way up to six months.
    — Tory Wegerski, CBS News, 24 Feb. 2026
  • Unlike fraud or tax sentences, those two years are mandatory.
    — Steve Patterson, Florida Times-Union, 10 Feb. 2026
  • Bestie’s not saying a break-up is mandatory, but the guy has yet to demonstrate his value.
    — Literary Hub, 9 Mar. 2026
  • The middle of the day is for mandatory Sun siestas.
    — Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026
  • That requires at least four hours of mandatory overtime per person.
    — Steven Rosenbaum, CBS News, 4 Mar. 2026
  • But the practice remained mandatory in the midst of wartime passions.
    — Clint Bolick, National Review, 3 Dec. 2023
  • The new plans will only be mandatory for new borrowers.
    — Alison Durkee, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026
  • The bill doesn’t affect who, under state law, is a mandatory reporter.
    — Meghan O’Brien, States Newsroom, 18 Feb. 2026
  • Both face mandatory life sentences.
    — John Annese, New York Daily News, 23 Mar. 2026
  • See all our Coveted lists of mandatory items here.
    — Julissa James, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2026
  • The tips must be voluntary, not mandatory.
    — Susan Tompor, Freep.com, 23 Sep. 2025
  • That gets harder, though, in mandatory minicamp.
    — Josh Kendall, New York Times, 12 June 2026
  • Linear growth is preferable, but not mandatory.
    — Eric Koreen, New York Times, 26 June 2026
  • Daniel Sikkema now faces a mandatory life sentence.
    — Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 22 May 2026
  • Each homicide count carries a mandatory life prison sentence.
    — CBS News, 8 Jan. 2026
  • Each faces at least one mandatory sentence of life in prison, prosecutors said.
    — Sydney Barragan, Daily News, 6 June 2026
  • Experts said that’s not the way mandatory reporting is supposed to work.
    — Tony Cook, ProPublica, 28 Nov. 2023

mandatory

2 of 2 noun
  • One that avoids making certain information mandatory may be easy to speak, but leaves the listener to fill in the gaps.
    — The Economist, 19 Sep. 2019
  • Buying such insurance is quasi-mandatory, since banks won’t issue mortgages unless a property is covered.
    — Emanuel Ubert, Washington Post, 13 Sep. 2017
  • California made reprocessing of food waste mandatory this year.
    — James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2022
  • Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have all made face coverings in public mandatory.
    — Jacqueline Howard, CNN, 31 Mar. 2020
  • But some mandatories come with parole In some cases, a minimum sentence will still be imposed, but the convict would be newly eligible for parole.
    — Julia O'Donoghue, NOLA.com, 26 June 2017
  • When title holders have multiple belts, mandatories are decided on a rotational basis.
    — Chris McKenna, New York Times, 26 June 2026
  • Bush then shared that she and Burton were told that Lenz had refused to do the photoshoot, making Bush’s participation mandatory.
    — Edward Segarra, USA TODAY, 30 Nov. 2022
  • Against Mandatory Minimums counts 22 states that have cut sentencing guidelines for drug offenders.
    — Jon Schuppe, NBC News, 19 May 2017
  • Capacity is reduced, users spaced out, mask usage mandatory and coffee/tea service temporarily put on hold because of the indoor dining restrictions.
    — Rafael Guerrero, chicagotribune.com, 30 Oct. 2020
  • Including bottomless mimosas for $15 (two-hour limit, entree purchase mandatory).
    — Amy Drew Thompson, Orlando Sentinel, 29 Sep. 2022
  • The legislation also makes Georgia's existing base-year homestead exemption mandatory statewide.
    — Christopher Harris, CBS News, 11 May 2026
  • In their statement, Linden’s family called on other departments to make sensory-inclusive training mandatory.
    — Paighten Harkins, The Salt Lake Tribune, 20 Sep. 2022
  • The group was scheduled for an upcoming mandatory, aka boring, 48-hour training, but were instead surprised with an island vacation to the Florida Keys.
    — orlandosentinel.com, 11 Nov. 2020
  • Making personal finance instruction mandatory helps to reach students at all socioeconomic levels, advocates say.
    — Ann Carrns, New York Times, 7 Feb. 2020
  • Black Sheep, an upscale restaurant group in Hong Kong, has made temperature checks and surveys about medical history mandatory at its 23 restaurants.
    — Su-Hyun Lee, BostonGlobe.com, 2 May 2020
  • With New Delhi weighing a law that would make local storage mandatory, mining tycoon Gautam Adani wants to invest $10 billion in server farms in just one state.
    — Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2019
  • Sánchez’s decision to pass a law making board parity mandatory is aligned with a European Union directive issued last year, which demands that such laws be passed in the region by 2026.
    — Rodrigo Orihuela, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2023
  • In his first year, Risher cut 30% of Lyft’s workforce, introduced new features like one that matches women passengers and women drivers, and made returning to the office mandatory.
    — Phil Wahba, Fortune, 25 Jan. 2024
  • This system took millions of dollars to develop and is often pointed to as a working example of upload filters by rights holders and lawmakers who wish to make such technology mandatory for every website which hosts user content online.
    — Ulrich Kaiser, Ars Technica, 3 Sep. 2018
  • The Shift Project showed that at 34 French universities, less than one-quarter of degree programs offered any courses in climate and energy issues, and most of those did not make such a class mandatory.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 30 Jan. 2021
  • Like Obamacare, which essentially makes health care mandatory for everyone, insurance coverage is compulsory in Germany.
    — Patrick May, The Mercury News, 2 June 2017
  • Simson said that the commission could consider making a voluntary 15% gas demand reduction mandatory, with the EU so far averaging around a 10% cut compared with previous years.
    — John Ainger, Bloomberg.com, 12 Oct. 2022
  • With the Pixel 10 Pro (and the rest of the Pixel 10 family), Google has made the use of the Battery Health Assistant mandatory, which has a significant impact on users.
    — Ewan Spence, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mandatory.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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