Obedience is when someone does what they are told — by a person, or by a law, a rule, or a religion. A dog’s obedience is how well it follows sit and stay. A soldier’s obedience is following orders. In older talk, a child’s obedience was doing what parents said. The word itself only names the following; it does not, by itself, say that this is good or bad. Though actually, people argue about it. Some families and workplaces treat obedience as a virtue. Other people feel uncomfortable with the word, because it can sound as if the person who obeys has no mind of their own. In modern everyday English, adults more often say following the rules or doing as you are asked — except with dogs, in church language, or in formal writing. A close cousin, obeisance, grew from the same old root but now means a bow of respect, not the doing.