Adjure — A Vocabulary Story
Nuria's Great Garden Show
Nuria had spent all week planning the greatest garden show ever performed. She had a clipboard, a whistle, and a very serious frown.
"I adjure you all to follow the script," she announced, tapping the clipboard. "No surprises. No silliness. Especially you, Teo."
Adjure means to urge or request someone earnestly and solemnly. It can also mean to command someone under oath or threat of a penalty.
Her little brother Teo, wearing a colander as a helmet, saluted with a wooden spoon. That worried her.
The show began beautifully. Cousin Lucía twirled as the Queen of the Flowers. Cousin Mateo marched on as a brave knight. Then Teo galloped in on an invisible horse — which was not in the script — and declared that the Queen of the Flowers was actually a space alien.
Lucía froze. Mateo dropped his cardboard sword. In the audience, Dad hid his grin behind his teacup.
Nuria blew her whistle. "Teo! I adjured you to stick to the script!"
"But invisible horses are brilliant," said Teo.
Nuria took a deep breath. The audience — Mum, Dad and next-door's cat — waited. And then Nuria noticed something dreadful. They were smiling. At Teo's bit. More than at her carefully planned bits.
She looked at her clipboard. She looked at Teo. She sighed the sigh of a great director.
"Fine. The Queen is a space alien. But I adjure you, solemnly and completely, to let me be the alien's dramatic sister."
Teo grinned. "Deal."
The show ended with three bows, one invisible horse, and the loudest clapping their garden had ever heard.
Word Definition
adjure
meaning
to urge or request someone earnestly and solemnly; to command someone under oath or threat of a penalty
synonyms
beg · implore · entreat · beseech · command
antonyms
discourage · dissuade · forbid
example sentence
The teacher adjured us to tell the truth about what had happened.