Definition of "expostulate" [ex•pos•tu•late]

• To reason earnestly with someone in an effort to dissuade or correct; remonstrate. See Synonyms at object. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Only if he had that kind of expostulate during football games."
• "The generous nature of Safie was outraged by this command; she attempted to expostulate with her father, but he left her angrily, reiterating his tyrannical mandate."
• "It was in vain to expostulate with the palefaced Spectre who directed our course, I found myself surrounded by a hubbub of voices, and trunks of old clothes, (you know I am always busy in that way in my sleep) and the roar of the Sea-beach, mingled with loud discharges of immense Artillery place'd on Cliffs over our heads."