adjure

American  

[uh-joor] / əˈdʒʊər /

verb (used with object)

• adjures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• adjured,
  past participle,  past
• adjuring
  present participle

1. to charge, bind, or command earnestly and solemnly, often under oath or the threat of a penalty.

2. to entreat or request earnestly or solemnly.

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adjure British  

/ əˈdʒʊə /

verb

1. to command, often by exacting an oath; charge

2. to appeal earnestly to

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• adjuration
  noun
• adjurer
  noun
• adjuror
  noun
• adjuratory
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• adjuring
  present
• adjured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• adjure
  simple
• adjures
  simple
• have adjured
  perfect
• has adjured
  perfect
• am adjuring
  progressive
• are adjuring
  progressive
• is adjuring
  progressive
• have been adjuring
  perfect progressive
• has been adjuring
  perfect progressive

Past

• adjured
  simple
• had adjured
  perfect
• was adjuring
  progressive
• were adjuring
  progressive
• had been adjuring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will adjure
  simple
• will have adjured
  perfect
• will be adjuring
  progressive
• will have been adjuring
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of adjure

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Latin word adjūrāre. See ad-, jury ¹

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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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

adjure adjures adjured adjuring

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

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

If you care not for the happiness of one who would risk his life for yours, then do I adjure you, as you care for truth, to speak the truth!

From The White Gauntlet by Mayne Reid

I adjure you not to believe in that man.

From 'Midst the Wild Carpathians by M?r J?kai

Well, on the border of the tomb I adjure you not to lose faith in yourselves, for you who prophesy your own fall are the ones who hasten it.

From The Jew by Jo?zef Ignacy Kraszewski

"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 she adjures him by all the sacred ties, and dwells pathetically on the circumstance which had struck even Menelaus.

From Woman in the Ninteenth Century and Kindred Papers Relating to the Sphere, Condition and Duties, of Woman. by Margaret Fuller

The cardinals assist at Mass and receive holy communion from the hands of the Cardinal Dean, who solemnly adjures them to elect as pope him whom they believe to be the most worthy.

From Pope Pius the Tenth by F. A. (Frances Alice) Forbes

Yet this man adjures every landlord, "by the virtue of his oath," to tell him, and as he hopes for peace in this world to tell him truly, which is the nearest road to Keswick.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 353, March 1845 by Various

He urgently adjured Premier Stanislaw Mikolajczyk to return to Poland to head the Polish Government, gave the London Poles a sharp reprimand for not having come to terms with Russia sooner.

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

Good-humoredly, he adjured photographers to picture his "bad" eye as well as his good.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

And Mrs. Lathrop, thus adjured, refrained from further speech.

From Susan Clegg and Her Love Affairs by Anne Warner

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

John tells me to stop adjuring the jockey, that he will never hear me.

From Seeds of Pine by Janey Canuck

“Sáhela Selássie ye moot?” inquired the sporting monarch on one of these occasions, adjuring the informant by his own illustrious life; “are they well surrounded?”

From The Highlands of Ethiopia by William Cornwallis Harris

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