adjuration
Americannoun
-
an earnest request; entreaty.
-
a solemn or desperate urging or counseling.
an adjuration for all citizens of the beleaguered city to take shelter.
Etymology
Origin of adjuration
1605–15; < Latin adjūrātiōn- (stem of adjūrātiō ), equivalent to adjūrāt ( us ), past participle of adjūrāre to adjure + -ion- -ion
Explanation
Use the noun adjuration to describe the serious, whole-hearted way you begged your parents to let you have a puppy when you were little. During your adjuration to get that puppy, did you say, "I swear I'll feed it and walk it every day! I swear to clean up after it!"? If so, you were really in tune with the origin of adjuration, the Latin ad- or "to" and jurare, "swear" — in the sense of taking an oath of honesty. Adjuration involves both begging and promising.
Vocabulary lists containing adjuration
Frankenstein
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Wuthering Heights
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Novel Study: Frankenstein, Chapters 14–24
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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.
He was too cunning a man—too well versed in human nature—to attempt heroics with such a girl as Rhoda, and there was no enraptured catching of hands, no falling upon one knee, no passionate adjuration.
From The Vicar's People by George Manville Fenn
This strikes us now-a-days as anything but a very solemn or a very momentous form of adjuration.
From A Cursory History of Swearing by Julian Sharman
Barnes was moved to adjuration: "I'll take my Bible oath, your Grace, that the Duchess got into the carriage outside Cane and Wilson's."
From Amusement Only by Richard Marsh
Then followed, in order to compel them to act, an adjuration introducing the mystical names, ‘those written at birth in their heart by their father and mother.’
From The Psychological Origin and the Nature of Religion by James H. (James Henry) Leuba
With this parting adjuration Mr. Hamlin turned over and tried to devote himself to his book.
From Gabriel Conroy by Bert Harte
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
