hortative

[ hawr-tuh-tiv ]

adjective

1. hortatory.

Other Words From

• horta·tive·ly adverb
• un·horta·tive adjective
• un·horta·tive·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of hortative¹

1600–10; < Latin hortātīvus, equivalent to hortāt ( us ), past participle of hortārī to incite to action, frequentative of horīrī to encourage (akin to yearn ) + -īvus -ive

Example Sentences

Hortative, hort′a-tiv, adj. inciting: encouraging: giving advice—also Hort′atory.—n.

From Project Gutenberg

But it’s important to remember that “Jersey Shore” is on MTV, a youth-oriented cable channel that has a hortative streak: series like “Teen Mom” and “If You Really Knew Me” carry a strong “don’t try this at home” message.

From New York Times

Basically, the San Francisco school represented a fresh imagism combined with oriental influences; the Black Mountain group leaned toward an intellectual eclecticism typical of Ezra Pound's Cantos; and the New York school was surreal and Dadaistic, or more adamantly colloquial and hortative, as in Ginsberg's "Howl."

From Time Magazine Archive

And he who says the Coming of Christ considered as a doctrine, as a truth or a motive, is not intensely practical and all-compelling to Christian devotion and service, is either blindly and excuselessly ignorant of the Word of God or brutally and perversely guilty of denying a truth that flashes like lightning from one end of the Bible to the other and illuminates every hortative passage in the Word of God.

From Project Gutenberg

The Parson, under high excitement, rained his hortative oratory upon me.

From Project Gutenberg