objurgate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
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 Saintsbury, George
If you step on one after nightfall, it will be useless to objurgate.
From A Breeze from the Woods, 2nd Ed. by Bartlett, William Chauncey
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
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 Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
“Dost intend to put a finish to thy intrusion upon the privacy of females?” objurgated Miss Drinker; and at the question Brereton flung out of the room without more words.
From Janice Meredith by Ford, Paul Leicester
Gerald, thus objurgated, walked through into a large room, low-ceilinged as are all rooms situated on the entresol floor of a Paris house.
From The End of Her Honeymoon by Lowndes, Marie Belloc
If he objurgated the haste, he did it silently.
From Our Pilots in the Air by Brown, William Perry
He objurgated his clumsiness and went on, picking his way more cautiously.
From Brother Copas by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
And at his confession they shrieked and objurgated him in the pithy rhetoric of the locality.
From The Trimmed Lamp, and other Stories of the Four Million by Henry, O.
In another case a woman rushed into the street, alternately objurgating and pleading with the spirits, who, she said, were vexing her child which had convulsions.
From Travels in West Africa by Kingsley, Mary H.
The sailor-man, who had been objurgating straight ahead all this time, now weighed anchor and put the boat in towards shore.
From Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 14, July 2, 1870 by Various
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 Nassau, Robert Hamill
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 Tynan, Katharine
That proved conclusively that the mysterious gunboat flying the Cuban flag was in no humour to be trifled with; and the Spanish captain, objurgating vehemently, rang down for his engines to stop.
From The Cruise of the Thetis A Tale of the Cuban Insurrection by Cuneo, Cyrus
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.
