Thursday, May 29, 2014

abjure, adjure

Abjure or abjure means to renounce; to forswear or recant--
The last words of Joan of Arc are said to be "I abjure".
He was put on the witness stand, where he promptly began to abjure everything he had said before.

Adjure or adjure means to command, as under an oath or threat; to implore eanestly--
The old man claimed to be able to adjure the spirits to appear at his command.
He knelt before the king,  in order to adjure him to spare the young man."

Now that you know that, you can say--
"His old friends assembled to adjure him to abjure his faith and live, rather than become a martyr."

No comments:

Post a Comment