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Definition of "precatory" [precatory]

  • Relating to or expressing entreaty or supplication. (adjective)

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.

Use "precatory" in a sentence
  • "Siegfried called that wording "precatory" -- a suggestion -- and not mandatory, leaving open the possibility that the money could go out after the specified date."
  • "Barnett thinks Congress may make precatory resolutions:"
  • "Note that if legislators were somehow! required to read all bills passed into law, they would just withdraw into precatory vagaries, and leave all the detail to bureaucrats."