Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of expostulating or remonstrating with a person or persons; argumentative protest; dissuasion.
- noun In rhetoric, an address containing expostulation.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act of expostulating or reasoning with a person in opposition to some impropriety of conduct; remonstrance; earnest and kindly protest; dissuasion.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun countable The act of reasoning earnestly in order to
dissuade orremonstrate . - noun uncountable A comment of earnest reasoning meant to dissuade or remonstrate.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the act of expressing earnest opposition or protest
- noun an exclamation of protest or remonstrance or reproof
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The amount of anticipatory glee I have while awaiting a Biden expostulation is no doubt directly proportional to the angst Obama feels with the same anticipation.
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One was whipped deftly on to his plate, and as he took up his knife and fork to carve it, a great scuffling sounded without, angry voices being raised in expostulation, and, above all, a breathless, insistent appeal for Mr. Carr or Sir Miles.
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Well, Daddy! said Norah in expostulation – whereat everybody laughed.
Mates at Billabong 1911
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I am proud to say I had as much influence over the Boers as over the Kafirs, and by a kind and persuasive manner in expostulation, had they meditated such a step, I could at once have deterred them.
The Autobiography of Liuetenant-General Sir Harry Smith, Baronet of Aliwal on the Sutlej, G. C. B. 1903
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The Dewan roared; the burden of his expostulation was the word liar.
Caste William Alexander Fraser 1896
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The voice of the stranger was raised as though in anger or altercation, while that of the Governor was pitched lower, in tones that seemed to convey the idea of expostulation, entreaty, and apology.
A Chinese Command A Story of Adventure in Eastern Seas Harry Collingwood 1886
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The Vatican decrees and the "expostulation" by Robert Rodolph Suffield
Our Children Deserve More - When Will the Church Learn? 2006
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They sent off a kind of expostulation, which amounted to this -- "How now, my good sir?
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 337, November, 1843 Various
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Since it is often applied to produce predictions based on INSUFFICIENT or INCOMPLETE datasets, I'd say you're right, it's eminently applicable to a good bit of the expostulation posted in this thread (any reply?). [by the way, did you get the Wordsworth pun?] red
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Had he sprung at her, or snarled, or shown any anger or resentment such as did the other dogs when so treated by her, she would have screamed and screeched and raised a hubbub of expostulation, crying for help and calling all men to witness how she was being unwarrantably attacked.
CHAPTER XXVIII 2010
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