Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To force or drive forward or onward; impel.
  • intransitive verb To entreat earnestly and often repeatedly; exhort.
  • intransitive verb To advocate earnestly the doing, consideration, or approval of; press for.
  • intransitive verb To stimulate; excite.
  • intransitive verb To move or impel to action, effort, or speed; spur.
  • intransitive verb To exert an impelling force; push vigorously.
  • intransitive verb To present a forceful argument, claim, or case.
  • noun The act of urging.
  • noun An impulse that prompts action or effort.
  • noun An involuntary tendency to perform a given activity; an instinct.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of urging; impulse.
  • To press; impel; force onward.
  • To hasten laboriously; quicken with effort.
  • To press the mind or will of; serve as a motive or impelling cause; impel; constrain; spur.
  • To press or ply hard with arguments, entreaties, or the like; request with earnestness; importune; solicit earnestly.
  • To press upon attention; present in an earnest manner; press by way of argument or in opposition; insist on; allege in extenuation, justification, or defense: as, to urge an argument; to urge the necessity of a case.
  • To ply hard in a contest or an argument; attack briskly.
  • To provoke; incite; exasperate.
  • To press on or forward.
  • To incite; stimulate; impel.
  • To make a claim; insist; persist.
  • To produce arguments or proofs; make allegations; declare.

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

  • intransitive verb rare To press onward or forward.
  • intransitive verb To be pressing in argument; to insist; to persist.
  • transitive verb To press; to push; to drive; to impel; to force onward.
  • transitive verb To press the mind or will of; to ply with motives, arguments, persuasion, or importunity.
  • transitive verb rare To provoke; to exasperate.
  • transitive verb To press hard upon; to follow closely.
  • transitive verb To present in an urgent manner; to press upon attention; to insist upon
  • transitive verb To treat with forcible means; to take severe or violent measures with.

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

  • noun A strong desire; an itch to do something.
  • verb transitive To press; to push; to drive; to impel; to force onward.
  • verb transitive To press the mind or will of; to ply with motives, arguments, persuasion, or importunity.
  • verb transitive To provoke; to exasperate.
  • verb transitive To present in an urgent manner; to insist upon.
  • verb transitive (obsolete): To treat with forcible means; to take severe or violent measures with; as, to urge an ore with intense heat.
  • verb transitive To press onward or forward.
  • verb transitive To be pressing in argument; to insist; to persist.

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

  • noun a strong restless desire
  • verb spur on or encourage especially by cheers and shouts
  • verb force or impel in an indicated direction
  • verb push for something
  • noun an instinctive motive

Etymologies

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

[Latin urgēre.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin urgeō ("I urge"). This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.

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Examples

Comments

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  • When writing formal written texts, polite language is used to encourage someone to do something.

    I urge you to consider...

    I urge you to reconsider...

    I want to encourage you to...

    Wouldn’t you prefer to...?

    Would you consider…?

    October 22, 2012