Compliance is doing everything the rules and laws require. In compliance with, a compliance officer, the compliance department.
It is a business and regulatory word, and in banking, healthcare and law it names a whole function: compliance is the team whose job is making sure the organisation stays inside the rules. In medicine, patient compliance means taking the medicine as prescribed, though adherence is now preferred because it sounds less like obedience. Note the adjective compliant, which describes both a system that meets a standard and a person who agrees too readily — and only the first is a compliment.
1nouncomplianceThe state of doing what rules or laws require.
“Compliance with the new standard is checked annually.”
synonyms: conformity, adherence
2noundepartmentThe department responsible for making sure rules are followed.
“Compliance has to sign it off before it goes out.”
compliance is a state of following rules.
Proto-Indo-European
*pleh₁-
Proto-Indo-European
*ḱóm — beside, near; by, with
Latin
complēre
Old French
compli
Spanish
cumplir — to complete, fulfil
Catalan
complir — to complete, fulfil; to carry out
Italian
complire
English
comply
English, today
compliance
Built from
From comply + -ance. comply comes from Italian complire, Catalan complir (“to complete, fulfil; to carry out”), Spanish cumplir (“to complete, fulfil”), (alternatively from Old French compli), from Latin complēre, from compleō (“to finish, complete; to fulfil”), from com- (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ḱóm (“beside, near; by, with”)) + pleō (“to fill; to fulfil”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European pleh₁- (“to fill”)). The word is very close to the French verb complaire which means to satisfy or to please. The word is also cognate with Old French complir (“to accomplish, complete; to do”) (modern French accomplir (“to accomplish, achieve”)). Compare complete, compliment.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA