adjure

American  

[uh-joor] / əˈdʒʊər /

verb (used with object)

adjured, adjuring

1. to charge, bind, or command earnestly and solemnly, often under oath or the threat of a penalty.

2. to entreat or request earnestly or solemnly.

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adjure British  

/ əˈdʒʊə, ˌædʒʊəˈreɪʃən /

verb

1. to command, often by exacting an oath; charge

2. to appeal earnestly to

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Other Word Forms

• adjuration noun
• adjuratory adjective
• adjurer noun
• adjuror noun

Etymology

Origin of adjure

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Latin word adjūrāre. See ad-, jury ¹

Explanation

The verb adjure is a heavy-duty synonym of the word "ask," with more of a demanding tone. For example, you might have to adjure someone to tell the truth. You get a strong sense of the word adjure when you realize that the jure part is similar to "jury." Both come from the Latin jūrāre "swear," which in turn comes from jūs, jūr- "law" (as in justice and jurist). In 14th-century Middle English, the word suggested someone affirming something by swearing with an oath. So adjure means to command solemnly, as in "She adjured him to present the events precisely as he witnessed them."

Example Sentences

This is because they not only bestow praise; they also adjure the congratulatee to continue the good work�or else.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then Caiaphas said—"I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be Christ, the Son of God."

From Ludicrous Aspects Of Christianity A Response To The Challenge Of The Bishop Of Manchester by Holyoak, Austin

He went on, with chattering teeth, to adjure me to go no further; but crossing myself, I bade him be silent, and stepped forwards.

From The Honour of Savelli A Romance by Levett-Yeats, S. (Sidney)

Whereso'er your feet to-day Far from haunts of men may stray, We adjure you stay no more Exiles on an alien shore, But with spells of magic birth Once again make glad the earth.

From The Zankiwank and The Bletherwitch An Original Fantastic Fairy Extravaganza by Fitzgerald, S. J. Adair

South wind and drouth, I adjure you to make the trees of our fathers perish one and all where they stand, rather than that beneath their shade freedom of conscience shall be judged to death!

From The Legend of the Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel in the land of Flanders and elsewhere by Coster, Charles de