Webster's English Dictionary

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obligation

ob.li.ga.tion \.a:b-l*-'ga--sh*n\ n 1: an act of obligating oneself to a 
   course of action  2a1: an obligating factor that binds one to a course of 
   action  2a2: the power in such a factor  2b: a bond with a condition 
   annexed and a penalty for nonfulfillment; br oadly : a formal and binding 
   agreement or acknowledgment of a liability 2c: an investment security  3: 
   something that one is bound to do : DUTY  4: INDEBTEDNESS  5: money 
   committed to a particular purpose : LIABILITY esponsible person to do or 
   refrain from doing. OBLIGATION implies an immediate constraint imposed by 
   circumstances; DUTY suggests a more general but greater impulsion on moral 
   or ethical grounds SYN syn OBLIGATION, DUTY mean something that one is 
   bound as a r