hortative
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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."
Vocabulary lists containing hortative
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 has fourteen moods; his interrogative, optative, hortative, promissive, precautive, requisitive, enunciative, &c.
From English Grammar in Familiar Lectures by Kirkham, Samuel
The Parson, under high excitement, rained his hortative oratory upon me.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 87, January, 1865 by Various
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.
