Apedia

Expostulate Ik Spos Chuh Layt Verb Intr Reason Earnestly Order Dissuade

To expostulate is to reason earnestly with someone to dissuade them.

To expostulate is to reason earnestly with someone to dissuade them.

Front expostulate \ik-SPOS-chuh-layt\
Back verb intr.
To reason earnestly with someone in order to dissuade.

[From Latin expostulare (to require), from ex- (intensive prefix) + postulare (to demand). Ultimately from the Indo-European root prek- (to ask), which is also the source of words such as pray, precarious, deprecate, postulate, and precatory. Earliest documented use: 1548.]

"'Oh come on,' I expostulated, a shade too loudly. 'That's not fair.'" - Sarabjit Jagirdar; Amar's Little Secret; Hindustan Times (New Delhi, India); Feb 7, 2010. 

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