exhortation

C2+ Topic:Communication

US /ˌɛɡzɔrˈteɪʃən/ UK /ˌɛɡzɔːˈteɪʃən/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like exaltation /l/ vs /r/

noun

Meanings

1

noun
an address or communication strongly urging someone to act

The sermon ended with an exhortation to charity and patience.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an address or communication... urging admonition encouragement entreaty appealexhortingpersuasion

Opposites

dissuasion discouragement

Word family

Related forms exhortexhorterexhortatory

Etymology

From Latin exhortatio ('an encouraging'), from exhortari ('to encourage strongly'), from ex- ('thoroughly') + hortari ('to urge, encourage').

exhortatio Latin hortari Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Communication Word Formation & Derivatives

# exhortation

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˌɛɡzɔrˈteɪʃən
**IPA (UK):** ˌɛɡzɔːˈteɪʃən

## Meanings
1. an address or communication strongly urging someone to act

## Examples
- The sermon ended with an exhortation to charity and patience.

## Synonyms
- urging
- admonition
- encouragement
- entreaty
- appeal
- exhorting
- persuasion

## Antonyms
- dissuasion
- discouragement

## Related Forms
- exhort
- exhorter
- exhortatory

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: exhortatio
- Root: hortari

## Etymology
From Latin exhortatio ('an encouraging'), from exhortari ('to encourage strongly'), from ex- ('thoroughly') + hortari ('to urge, encourage').

## AI Etymology
Exhortation comes from Latin exhortatio ('an encouraging'), from exhortari ('to encourage strongly'), from ex- ('thoroughly') + hortari ('to urge, encourage'). Morphologically, the form is compositional: ex- marks part of the visible structure, while the remaining element supplies the lexical base. In present use, it is used as a noun meaning "an address or communication strongly urging someone to act", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes related forms such as exhort, exhorter, and exhortatory, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Latin exhortatio and Latin hortari, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance. Its semantic neighborhood is marked by urging, admonition, encouragement, and entreaty on one side and contrasts such as dissuasion and discouragement on the other, locating the modern specialization without adding a new origin story.

## Topics
- Communication
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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