acatar

First attested in 1521,^[1] hence probably borrowed from Spanish acatar.

acatar (first-person singular present acato, first-person singular preterite acatí, past participle acatat)

1. (transitive) to comply with, to abide by

• acatament
• desacatar

• “acatar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “acatar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “acatar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

From Old Galician-Portuguese acatar, from Vulgar Latin *accattāre, from Late Latin cattāre, from Latin captāre. Compare Galician and Spanish acatar.

acatar (first-person singular present acato, first-person singular preterite acatei, past participle acatado)

1. (transitive) to observe
2. (transitive) to respect, worship

   Synonym: respeitar

3. (transitive, intransitive) to obey, heed, comply

   Synonym: cumprir

   • 2024 August 31, Jeniffer Gularte, Mariana Muniz, quoting Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, “Lula: Musk tem de respeitar decisão do STF”, in Diário do Pará, page B1:

     E se esse país tomou uma decisão através da Suprema Corte, ele tem que acatar.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• acatamento

• “acatar”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “acatar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Inherited from Old Spanish acatar ("look at closely, consider", later "pay homage to"),^[1] from Vulgar Latin *accattāre, from Late Latin cattāre, from Latin captāre. Compare Portuguese acatar.

• IPA^(key): /akaˈtaɾ/

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: a‧ca‧tar

acatar (first-person singular present acato, first-person singular preterite acaté, past participle acatado)

1. (transitive) to comply with, to obey

   Synonyms: cumplir, obedecer

• → Catalan: acatar

• “acatar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10