beholden

/bɪhˈə‍ʊldən/

/bɪˈhoʊɫdən/

[adjective]

beholden

[ADJECTIVE]

under a moral obligation to someone

Examples

1. The CEO of the company never forgot the young intern who had helped her get her start, proving that even a lion may come to be beholden to a mouse.

2. True love, to Shakespeare, is not beholden to time.

3. The Republican Party is an authoritarian movement beholden to their cult-like leader.

4. But institutions are beholden to moral rights.