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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Community Comment

A Word A Day — admonish

Good Afternoon Netizens...

April 19, 2013

Word of the Day

  • admonish
  • audio pronunciation
  • \ad-MAH-nish\
  • DEFINITION
  •  

verb

1
a : to indicate duties or obligations to b : to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner
2
: to give friendly earnest advice or encouragement to
  • EXAMPLES
  •  

The teacher admonished Jenny not to run in the hallways.

"A struggling backup goaltender will stand up in the locker room during the intermission of a game in which he isn't playing, and he'll admonish his teammates to, essentially, stop being so stupid with the puck." — From an article by Dejan Kovacevic in TribLive, March 17, 2013

  • DID YOU KNOW?
  •  

We won't admonish you if you don't know the origins of today's word—its current meanings have strayed slightly from its history. "Admonish" was borrowed in the 14th century (via Anglo-French) from Vulgar Latin "admonestare," which is itself an alteration of the Latin verb "admonēre," meaning "to warn." "Admonēre," in turn, was formed by the combination of the prefix "ad-" and "monēre," "to warn." Other descendants of "monēre" in English include "monitor," "monitory" ("giving a warning"), "premonition," and even a now archaic synonym of "admonish," "monish." Incidentally, "admonish" has a number of other synonyms as well, including "reprove," "rebuke," "reprimand," "reproach," and "chide.

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

 

Dave



Spokesman-Review readers blog about news and issues in Spokane written by Dave Laird.