expostulation
Americannoun
-
the act of expostulating; remonstrance; earnest and kindly protest.
In spite of my expostulations, he insisted on driving me home.
-
an expostulatory remark or address.
Etymology
Origin of expostulation
1580–90; < Latin expostulātiōn- (stem of expostulātiō ) complaint. See expostulate, -ion
Explanation
Expostulation is an expression of protest, not a rant exactly, but often lengthy. If you have parents, you might be more familiar with the term "lecture," an expostulation on why you should never do the things you actually want to do. If you've done any geometry proofs, you know that postulate means to put forward an assumption. Expostulate means to take that assumption away. For instance you might postulate that it's a good idea for you and your friends to drive to the beach in the middle of the night, but your parents might expostulate that it's not safe.
Vocabulary lists containing expostulation
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Scarlet Letter
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"The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Expostulation against this breaking of the boycott by the Mahatma himself was in vain.
From Time Magazine Archive
After the above melancholy Narration, it may perhaps be a Relief to the Reader to peruse the following Expostulation.
From The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Addison, Joseph
Expostulation on the part of the former was vain.
From Paul Faber, Surgeon by MacDonald, George
Such is the Passion of Corydon in Virgil’s second Eclogue, Melibœus’s Expostulation with Tityrus about his Fortune; Theocritus’s Thyrsis, Cyclops, and Amaryllis, of which perhaps in its proper place I may treat more largely.
From De Carmine Pastorali (1684) by Congleton, J. E. (James Edmund)
Having utter’d this short Expostulation, he gave the distrest Fisherman one full Moiety of all the Money he brought with him out of Arabia.
From Zadig Or, The Book of Fate by Voltaire
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
