complying

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of comply.

   Drivers complying with the speed limit rarely face heavy fines.

   By complying with the court order, the firm avoided further penalties.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs. In "drivers complying with the limit" it is a participle describing people in the act. In "by complying with the order" it is a gerund, which names the act itself as a noun. The older meanings of comply are archaic: to fulfill, to be ceremoniously courteous, even to embrace. So complying in an old text may have nothing to do with obeying.

2. 2
   adjective

   Acting in accordance with rules, requests, or requirements.

   Complying firms received the certification without any delay.

   A complying witness answered every question the lawyer posed.

   Similarcompliant, conforming, cooperative, obedient

   Oppositenoncompliant, defiant, uncooperative, nonconforming

   Note

   Here the participle has settled into a describing word placed before a noun: complying firms, a complying witness. Unlike the verb form, it can be graded (more complying, most complying), so it can describe a cooperative disposition and not only a single act of obeying. When the rule or request itself needs naming, the verb with "with" usually does the work instead.

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