hortatory

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

/ ˈhɔr təˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /

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adjective

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

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of hortatory

First recorded in 1580–90; from Late Latin hortātōrius “encouraging,” equivalent to hortā(rī) (see hortative) + -tōrius -tory¹

OTHER WORDS FROM hortatory

hor·ta·to·ri·ly, adverb

Words nearby hortatory

horst, Horst Wessel song, hort., Horta, hortative, hortatory, Hortense, Hortense de Beauharnais, Horthy, horticultural, horticulture

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use hortatory in a sentence

His work has no doubt a hortatory side, as we shall see, but that side is secondary.
Expositor's Bible: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians|James Denney
This gave De Gollyer a certain hortatory moment of which he availed himself, seeking to reduce further the dramatic tension.
Murder in Any Degree|Owen Johnson
Is there some fatality which makes the pen that treats of Commencement hortatory and didactic?
From the Easy Chair, series 2|George William Curtis
The book is thus almost wholly in the form of address, and the hortatory note is insistent.
The Literature of the Old Testament|George Foot Moore

The latter then loses its peculiar flavor of the didactic and pedantic; its ultra-moralistic and hortatory tone.
Reconstruction in Philosophy|John Dewey

British Dictionary definitions for hortatory

hortatory

hortative (ˈhɔːtətɪv)

/ (ˈhɔːtətərɪ, -trɪ) /

adjective

tending to exhort; encouraging

Derived forms of hortatory

hortation, 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