Meaning & use
adjure
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To urge someone very seriously to do something, as if their honor or conscience depends on it.
Grammar: Takes an object plus to-infinitive: she adjured him to tell the truth.
Patterns
- adjure someone to do something
- adjure someone by something
The judge adjured the witness to speak only the truth.
She adjured her brother to keep the secret.
The preacher adjured the crowd to remember the poor.
verbtransitivearchaic
To order someone to do something under an oath or a solemn promise.
Grammar: Takes an object and often by plus a sacred thing: he adjured them by heaven to stay.
Patterns
- adjure someone by something
- adjure someone to do something
The king adjured his knights by their oaths to defend the border.
In the old story, she adjured the stranger by all that was holy to help.
Word forms
| third person singular | adjures |
|---|---|
| past tense | adjured |
| past participle | adjured |
| -ing form | adjuring |
Common combinations
- adjure someone to
- He adjured his son to take care of the farm.
- adjure by heaven
- The knight adjured them by heaven to keep the peace.
- solemnly adjure
- I solemnly adjure you to be honest.
- adjure the court
- The lawyer adjured the court to show mercy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- implore
- Implore stresses emotional begging, but adjure stresses a solemn moral or sacred appeal.
- beseech
- Beseech is equally old-fashioned but suggests humble pleading rather than binding someone to a duty.
- charge
- Charge in this sense means to give a duty to someone, and does not necessarily involve an oath.
- urge
- Urge is neutral and everyday, whereas adjure sounds ceremonial and intense.
Word family
- adjuration noun
- a solemn appeal or command
- adjurer noun
- a person who makes such an appeal (rare)
- adjuratory adjective
- expressing a solemn appeal (rare)
Commonly confused: adjure or abjure? adjure or adjourn?
adjure vs abjure
Abjure means to renounce something formally, while adjure means to appeal to someone to do something.
adjure vs adjourn
Adjourn means to end a meeting for a time and is unrelated in meaning.
Practice
In the old play, the dying king ___ his heir to protect the people.
Choose one answer.
Adjured fits because the king solemnly urges his heir to do something. Abjured means renounced, adjourned means postponed a meeting, and adored means loved.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “adjure”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.