hortatory

[hawr-tuh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee]

adjective

urging to some course of conduct or action; exhorting; encouraging: a hortatory speech.

Nearby words

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for hortatory

The latter then loses its peculiar flavor of the didactic and pedantic; its ultra-moralistic and hortatory tone.
Reconstruction in Philosophy|John Dewey
I believe, sir, that in the hortatory scene Lady Macbeth really vanquishes—as the scene ostensibly shows—his irresolution.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 66, No 409, November 1849|Various
Extracts from his hortatory letters which he published proved to Russians that his day was over.
A Survey of Russian Literature, with Selections|Isabel Florence Hapgood
Akin to these hortatory epigrams, in their tone of settled melancholy, are some of the satiric and convivial.
Studies of the Greek Poets (Vol II of 2)|John Addington Symonds

Love Cheats is the hortatory title of a play to be produced by Miss Horniman's company next month.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, May 20, 1914|Various

British Dictionary definitions for hortatory

hortatory

hortative (ˈhɔːtətɪv)

adjective

tending to exhort; encouraging

Derived Formshortation, nounhortatorily or hortatively, adverb

Word Origin for hortatory

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

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").