Synonyms

hortative

American

[hawr-tuh-tiv] / ˈhɔr tə tɪv /

adjective

hortatory.

Other Word Forms

hortatively adverb
unhortative adjective
unhortatively adverb

Etymology

Origin of hortative

1600–10; < Latin hortātīvus, equivalent to hortāt ( us ), past participle of hortārī to incite to action, frequentative of horīrī to encourage (akin to yearn ) + -īvus -ive

Explanation

Think your parents are too lax about recycling? It might be time to deliver an impassioned, hortative speech about protecting the environment. Hortative language urges the audience to take action. Anything hortative aims to encourage, urge on, or call to action. This word is most commonly used in the context of rhetoric and debate. For example, your English teacher might ask you to write a hortative essay on an issue about which you care deeply. Hortative, like the word exhort, derives from the Latin verb horari, "to urge."

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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.

The Parson, under high excitement, rained his hortative oratory upon me.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 87, January, 1865 by Various

He has fourteen moods; his interrogative, optative, hortative, promissive, precautive, requisitive, enunciative, &c.

From English Grammar in Familiar Lectures by Kirkham, Samuel

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023