Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Conveying an admonition or a warning.
  • noun A letter of admonition, such as one from a bishop or ecclesiastical court.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Giving monition or admonition; admonitory; spoken by way of warning; instructing by way of caution.
  • noun Admonition; warning.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Giving admonition; instructing by way of caution; warning.
  • noun Admonition; warning; especially, a monition proceeding from an ecclesiastical court, but not addressed to any one person.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective giving admonition and warning
  • noun a written letter giving admonition

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective serving to warn

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English monitorie, letter of admonition, admonitory, from Medieval Latin monitōria, admonition, from feminine of Latin monitōrius, monitory, from monitor, monitor; see monitor.]

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Examples

  • They are also too far away, normally a monitory should be as far away as its size.

    Small Home Office Idea for a Small Apartment 2009

  • The liberality of Virginia, or, as the result may prove, her folly, which submitted to, or, if you will, PROPOSED _this measure_, (abolition of slavery in the N.W. territory) has eventuated in effects which speak a monitory lesson.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 1 of 4 American Anti-Slavery Society

  • The liberality of Virginia, or, as the result may prove, her folly, which submitted to, or, if you will, PROPOSED _this measure_ (abolition of slavery in the N.W. territory) has eventuated in effects which speak a monitory lesson.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society

  • The liberality of Virginia, or, as the result may prove, her folly, which submitted to, or, if you will, PROPOSED _this measure_, (abolition of slavery in the N.W. territory) has eventuated in effects which speak a monitory lesson.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society

  • One of the most baneful instruments of ancient criminal procedure was what was known as the monitory; this was a notice from the pulpit, given out by the bishop and repeated by all vicars to their parishioners, ordering them to make inquiries about the crime in question, and to reveal all the facts which might come to their knowledge.

    Mauprat George Sand 1840

  • (abolition of slavery in the N.W. territory) has eventuated in effects which speak a monitory lesson.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society

  • (abolition of slavery in the N.W. territory) has eventuated in effects which speak a monitory lesson.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 1 of 4 American Anti-Slavery Society

  • When it comes to religion, some leaders need to focus less on satisfying their own ego, whether it is monitory gain, a thirst for power and attention, a thirst for status either here on earth or a heavenly sense of status, and a thirst for image and quantity rather than quality -- all of which are ego's way of wanting more and using religion to get it.

    Roya R. Rad, MA, PsyD: The Psychology of Religion: Why Are Some of Us Attracted to It? Roya R. Rad 2010

  • If you have a 20 inch monitory, you should put it 20 inch in front of you.

    Small Home Office Idea for a Small Apartment 2009

  • The result of the whole is that we must recur to the monitory reflection that no Government of human device, & human administration can be perfect; that that which is the least imperfect is therefore the best Govt.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Wishful Linguistics 2010

Comments

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  • perfect counterpart to minatory; it refers to things that are meant to warn, rather than to threaten.

    May 17, 2007

  • See pleurodont for a usage note.

    March 9, 2008