hortative

/ˈhɔrtətɪv/

Think your parents are too lax about recycling? It might be time to deliver an impassioned, hortative speech about protecting the environment. Hortative language urges the audience to take action.

Anything hortative aims to encourage, urge on, or call to action. This word is most commonly used in the context of rhetoric and debate. For example, your English teacher might ask you to write a hortative essay on an issue about which you care deeply. Hortative, like the word exhort, derives from the Latin verb horari, "to urge."

Definitions of hortative

1. adjective

   giving strong encouragement
   synonyms: exhortative, exhortatory, hortatory

   encouraging

   giving courage or confidence or hope