expostulatory
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of expostulatory
First recorded in 1580–90; expostulate + -ory 1
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.
But the other raised his arm with an expostulatory gesture.
From Under the Rose by Isham, Frederic Stewart
Fairfax and Cromwell, the commanders of the army, wrote an expostulatory letter to the city, stating their grievances, and disavowing all desire to injure the place.
From London in Modern Times or, Sketches of the English Metropolis during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. by Unknown
Her letters were exposed, her expostulatory verses read at clubs and taverns, and the unhappy Sappho toasted in derision.
From Coelebs In Search of a Wife by More, Hannah
Ida laughed good-humoredly; and the man made a little expostulatory gesture.
From The Gold Trail by Bindloss, Harold
‘The King angrily said he was a traitor, whereat the youth showing a grieved and expostulatory countenance, and haplie Scotlike words, the King, seeing himself alone and without weapon, cried Treason!’
From James VI and the Gowrie Mystery by Lang, Andrew
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.
