objurgate

American  

[ob-jer-gayt, uhb-jur-gayt] / ˈɒb dʒərˌgeɪt, əbˈdʒɜr geɪt /

verb (used with object)

objurgated, objurgating

1. to reproach or denounce vehemently; upbraid harshly; berate sharply.

---

objurgate British  

/ ˈɒbdʒəˌɡeɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to scold or reprimand

---

Other Word Forms

• objurgation
  noun
• objurgator
  noun
• objurgative
  adjective
• objurgatory
  adjective
• objurgatively
  adverb
• objurgatorily
  adverb

---

Etymology

Origin of objurgate

1610–20; < Latin objūrgātus, past participle of objūrgāre to rebuke, equivalent to ob- ob- + jūrgāre, jurigāre to rebuke, equivalent to jūr- (stem of jūs ) law + -ig-, combining form of agere to drive, do + -ātus -ate ¹

---

Explanation

How dare you! To objurgate is to scold or reprimand. Don’t objurgate yourself, or beat yourself up if you didn’t know it — it’s an old word that people don’t use much anymore. To scold — or to express your disgust and condemnation of — is to objurgate, although this useful word has become quite rare. You're more likely to hear someone use words like castigate or reprimand these days. Objurgate comes directly from the Latin obiurgare, "to chide or rebuke."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

objurgate objurgated objurgating

He found various relishes, condiments, and preserves, and what not, all of which he tasted, some of which he enjoyed, and some of which he seemed to objurgate in choice Kickapoo.

From Stories by American Authors, Volume 3 by Various

If you step on one after nightfall, it will be useless to objurgate.

From A Breeze from the Woods, 2nd Ed. by William Chauncey Bartlett

Let his fellows grumble and objurgate, said he; they would cringe to him when he became a dragoman, with his pockets stuffed with piastres.

From A Book of Ghosts by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

It is customary to objurgate Thackeray as too moral.

From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century by George Saintsbury

Felipe, accompanying each outburst with a mighty swing of his whip, swore and pleaded and objurgated and threatened in turn.

From Bred of the Desert A Horse and a Romance by Marcus Horton

There was the usual moment of confusion, as the driver objurgated vociferously, after the manner of his class, and a man jumped out of the vehicle and ran to the horse’s head.

From The Red Symbol by John Ironside

I was so filled with anger when I read this note that I openly objurgated “His Wife’s Deceased Sister.”

From A Chosen Few Short Stories by Frank Richard Stockton

His dreams broke off with a sardonic laugh, a repetition of the tone in which he had objurgated the ship-master.

From Java Head by Joseph Hergesheimer

I was so filled with anger when I read this note that I openly objurgated "His Wife's Deceased Sister."

From The Magic Egg and Other Stories by Frank Richard Stockton

In another case I saw a woman who rushed into the street objurgating the spirits, and in the next breath humbly supplicating them, who, she said, were vexing her child that was lying in convulsions.

From Fetichism in West Africa Forty Years' Observations of Native Customs and Superstitions by Robert Hamill Nassau

On all sides zealotry raises and shakes a protesting hand; on all sides it shrieks, objurgating, threatening.

From The Book of Khalid by Ameen Fares Rihani

I by rights belonged with these malecontent and objurgating gentlemen; but a chronicler has privileges, and I got leave to count myself into the Eighth Company, my old friend Captain Shumway's.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 45, July, 1861 by Various

He was thinking of those two dear women, as he called them to himself, objurgating himself for his unworthiness to be the kinsman and lover of one, the friend of the other.

From Mary Gray by Katharine Tynan

Then he relieved his feelings by objurgating the panic-stricken Somalis, whose superstitious minds interpreted the appearance of the air-borne host as a sure indication of war.

From The Wheel O' Fortune by Louis Tracy

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---