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hortatory

[hawr-tuh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee]
adjective
  1. urging to some course of conduct or action; exhorting; encouraging: a hortatory speech.
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Origin of hortatory

1580–90; < Late Latin hortātōrius encouraging, equivalent to hortā(rī) (see hortative) + -tōrius -tory1
Related formshor·ta·to·ri·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hortatory

Historical Examples

  • He had assumed a very pompous, hortatory manner, and I could well believe he held a prominent position in Asbury class.

    Stories by American Authors, Volume 6

    Various

  • Though, for the sake of brevity, it may at times seem to take a hortatory tone, it is a record and no more.

  • Allowing for its standpoint the book is not virulent, and is a respectable piece of hortatory divinity on its own side.

  • Alienor tells herself, however, that she is fortunate she is not troubled by worse things than hortatory friends.

    Life on a Mediaeval Barony

    William Stearns Davis

  • His work has no doubt a hortatory side, as we shall see, but that side is secondary.

British Dictionary definitions for hortatory

hortatory

hortative (ˈhɔːtətɪv)

adjective
  1. tending to exhort; encouraging
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Derived Formshortation, nounhortatorily or hortatively, adverb

Word Origin

C16: from Late Latin hortātōrius, from Latin hortārī to exhort
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hortatory

adj.

1580s, from Middle French hortatoire and directly from Late Latin hortatorius "encouraging, cheering," from hortatus, past participle of hortari "exhort, encourage, urge, incite, instigate," intensive of horiri "urge, incite, encourage," from PIE root *gher- "to like, want" (cf. Old English giernan "to strive, desire, yearn;" Gothic gairnei "desire;" Greek khresthai "to lack, want; use, make use of," kharis "grace, favor," khairein "to rejoice, delight in;" Sanskrit haryati "finds pleasure, likes," harsate "is aroused;" Avestan zara "effort, aim;" Russian zhariti "awake desire, charm").

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper