adjure
Americanverb (used with object)
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adjures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
adjured,
past participle, past
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adjuring
present participle
-
to charge, bind, or command earnestly and solemnly, often under oath or the threat of a penalty.
-
to entreat or request earnestly or solemnly.
verb
-
to command, often by exacting an oath; charge
-
to appeal earnestly to
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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adjuresimple
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adjuressimple
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have adjuredperfect
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has adjuredperfect
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am adjuringprogressive
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are adjuringprogressive
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is adjuringprogressive
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have been adjuringperfect progressive
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has been adjuringperfect progressive
Past
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adjuredsimple
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had adjuredperfect
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was adjuringprogressive
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were adjuringprogressive
-
had been adjuringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of adjure
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Latin word adjūrāre. See ad-, jury 1
Explanation
The verb adjure is a heavy-duty synonym of the word "ask," with more of a demanding tone. For example, you might have to adjure someone to tell the truth. You get a strong sense of the word adjure when you realize that the jure part is similar to "jury." Both come from the Latin jūrāre "swear," which in turn comes from jūs, jūr- "law" (as in justice and jurist). In 14th-century Middle English, the word suggested someone affirming something by swearing with an oath. So adjure means to command solemnly, as in "She adjured him to present the events precisely as he witnessed them."
Vocabulary lists containing adjure
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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.
See Examples For:
South wind and drouth, I adjure you to make the trees of our fathers perish one and all where they stand, rather than that beneath their shade freedom of conscience shall be judged to death!
From The Legend of the Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel in the land of Flanders and elsewhere by Charles de Coster
And they said, "We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth" to come out of this man.
From "Granny's Chapters" (on scriptural subjects) by Lady Mary Ross
Monsieur, I implore you, I adjure you, to open this letter.
From The Seven Cardinal Sins: Envy and Indolence by Eug?ne Sue
Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God, the Son of the Blessed?
From Walks and Words of Jesus A Paragraph Harmony of the Four Evangelists by M. N. Olmsted
His duty was to admonish and exhort, to adjure his flock to quit the error of their ways.
From From the Easy Chair, series 2 by George William Curtis
"Let's not look like we're flying," she adjures, flapping her elbows.
From Time Magazine Archive
"For God's sake," adjures Frimbo, "get on a train!"
From Time Magazine Archive
Then, Soul of mine, Look up and triumph rather— Lo! in the depth of God's Divine, The Son adjures the Father— BE PITIFUL, O GOD.
From The World's Best Poetry, Volume 4 The Higher Life by Bliss Carman
As for himself, he is resigned to separation, and he adjures Wolfgang to live the life of a good Catholic Christian.
From Story-Lives of Great Musicians by Francis Jameson Rowbotham
He breaks from his friend, and is rushing to meet the extended arms of the goddess, when Wolfram adjures him once more by the sainted memory of Elisabeth.
From The Opera A Sketch of the Development of Opera. With full Descriptions of all Works in the Modern Repertory. by J. A. Fuller-Maitland
Thus adjured and fortified, the Chamber got down to cases Tuesday afternoon in one of the longest luncheon sessions on convention records.
From Time Magazine Archive
One William McAndrew, writing in the November World's Work, adjured me to compose verses that, if memorized, would serve as a reminder to children to be careful when crossing the streets.
From Time Magazine Archive
A Tokyo girl clerk adjured him: "Hatoyama-san, please be consistent in your austerity program."
From Time Magazine Archive
Thus adjured the outraged New York Sun in 1893.
From Time Magazine Archive
Wagner, when Liszt adjured him to turn to religion as a consolation, replied: "I believe only in mankind."
From Unicorns by James Huneker
But before adjuring court, Orbus reminded Strauss-Kahn that the bail was not meant as a punishment, but to ensure that he appeared at the required hearings and did not flee justice.
From Time ● Jul. 1, 2011
For some 20 years he has been adjuring, adverting, advising his countrymen to discover in their fragmentary selves a Sense of the Whole.
From Time Magazine Archive
The classic manuals, written by starchy Englishmen and rock- ribbed Yankees, try to take all the fun out of writing, grimly adjuring the writer to avoid offbeat words, figures of speech, and playful alliteration.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
She felt as if she were breaking something to Farvie and adjuring him to bear it.
From The Prisoner by Alice Brown
Halliday, by grimaces, was adjuring him to forbear.
From John March, Southerner by George W. Cable
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.
