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If you want to add a little oomph to your urge in speech or writing—and formal oomph at that—we exhort you to try using exhort as a synonym instead. Arriving in the 15th century from the Anglo-French word exorter, exhort traces back further to the Latin verb hortari, meaning “to incite to action, urge on, or encourage.” Latin users added the prefix ex- to hortari to intensify it; in essence, exhortari is a succinct way of saying “to really, really urge.” The Latin words adhortari (its meaning similar to that of exhortari) and dehortari (“to dissuade”) also found their way into English as adhort and dehort, respectively, but neither of these remains in current use.
Examples of exhort in a Sentence
Nerdwallet, Oc Register, 21 Apr. 2025
Some vehemently exhort that the AI Act is excessive regulatory oversight.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 14 Apr. 2025
Others would exhort that the end result is what counts, not how the inner machinations work.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025
Wonder-working is commonplace in both the Old and New Testaments, and Jesus exhorted all his followers to heal the sick and raise the dead.
—Emily Harnett, Harpers Magazine, 28 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for exhort
Cite this Entry
“Exhort.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exhort. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
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