As an adjective, obligate means "by necessity" (antonym ) and is used mainly in biology in phrases such as:
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Obligate aerobe, an organism that cannot survive without oxygen
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Obligate anaerobe, an organism that cannot survive in the presence of oxygen
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Obligate air-breather, a term used in fish physiology to describe those that respire entirely from the atmosphere
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Obligate biped, Bipedalism designed to walk on two legs
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Obligate carnivore, an organism dependent for survival on a diet of animal flesh.
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Obligate chimerism, a kind of organism with two distinct sets of DNA, always
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Obligate hibernation, a state of inactivity in which some organisms survive conditions of insufficiently available resources.
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Obligate intracellular parasite, a parasitic microorganism that cannot reproduce without entering a suitable host cell
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Obligate parasite, a parasite that cannot reproduce without exploiting a suitable host
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Obligate photoperiodic plant, a plant that requires sufficiently long or short nights before it initiates flowering, germination or similarly functions
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Obligate symbionts, organisms that can only live together in a symbiosis
See also