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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
Laura Washington, Chicago Tribune, 3 Sep. 2025
Inspired by the financial and professional assistance, Cenedella exhorted the 30 people in the audience to accept the challenge of working to improve their community.
—Steven Mihailovich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Aug. 2025
In Commonweal a Berrigan brother wrote from jail of the hopeful solidarity among his Black cellmates; Catholic Worker newspapers, their cheap ink faded by an afternoon of sunlight, described finding Christ among tramps on the breadline and exhorted readers to join Him.
—Literary Hub, 19 Aug. 2025
Alterman used his cultural eminence to exhort the Israeli government to hold on to the territories taken in the war.
—David Remnick, New Yorker, 28 July 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 9 Sep. 2025.
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