obligation

noun

1 I have an obligation to look after her | he seemed able to fulfill his professional obligations:

duty, commitment, responsibility, moral imperative;

function, task, job, chore, assignment, commission, business, burden, charge, onus, liability, accountability, requirement, debt, engagement;

dated office;

archaic devoir;

literary trust.

2 she took him in solely out of a sense of obligation:

duty, compulsion, indebtedness, duress, necessity, pressure, constraint.

3 the company's export obligations:

contract, agreement, deed, covenant, bond, treaty, deal, pact, compact, understanding, transaction.

□ under an obligation

she didn't want to be under an obligation to him:

owing someone a favor, obliged, beholden, in someone's debt, indebted, obligated, owing someone a debt of gratitude, duty-bound, honor-bound, grateful, owing someone thanks.