urge
/ɜːd͡ʒ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/əːd͡ʒ/
urge noun: a strong desire to do something.
Noun
urge (plural urges)
Verb
urge (third-person singular simple present urges, present participle urging, simple past and past participle urged)
- To press; to push; to drive; to impel; to force onward.
- Lo hapless Tydeus, whose ill-fated hand / Had slain his brother, leaves his native land, / And seized with horror in the shades of night, / Through the thick deserts headlong urged his flight[…]1703, Statius, translated by Alexander Pope, edited by William Charles Macready, Thebais, London: Bradbury & Evans, translation of original in Classical Latin, published 1849, page 129
- No longer do we tack and tack obediently to the demand of the Valkyries. A new power urges our ships independently of wind and tide. With the growth of steam power the crowning glory of the old ship departed.1922, Holbrook Jackson, “Ships and the Sea”, in Occasions, page 128
- To put mental pressure on; to ply with motives, arguments, persuasion, or importunity.
- My boss urged me to reconsider my decision to leave the company, even offering a pay rise.
- You do miſtake your buſines, my Brother neuer / Did vrge me in his Act : I did inquire it, / And haue my Learning from ſome true reports / That drew their ſwords with you, did he not rather / Diſcredit my authority with yours, / And make the warres alike againſt my ſtomacke, / Hauing alike your...c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
- Synonyms:
- instigate, abet, actuate, goose, fuel, light a fire under, send, sting, bring about, cheer
- To provoke; to exasperate.
- Vrge not my fathers anger (Eglamoure) / But thinke vpon my griefe (a Ladies griefe) / And on the iuſtice of my flying hence, / To keepe me from a moſt vnholy match, / Which heauen and fortune ſtill rewards with plagues.1589–1593, William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac...
- “I can answer a civil question civilly,” said the youth ; “and will pay fitting respect to your age, if you do not urge my patience with mockery. Since I have been here in France and Flanders, men have called me, in their fantasy, the Varlet with the Velvet Pouch, because of this hawk-purse which I...1823, Sir Walter Scott, chapter II, in Quentin Durward, volume I, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co., page 35
- To press hard upon; to follow closely.
- Man ? and for ever ? wretch ! what wouldst thou have ? / Heir urges heir, like wave impelling wave.a. 1744, Horace, “The Second Epistle of the Second Book of Horace”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, volume III, London: William Pickering, translation of A...
- To present in an urgent manner; to insist upon.
- to urge an argument; to urge the necessity of a case
- To be urging her opinion against Sir Thomas's, was a proof of the extremity of the case, but such was her horror at the first suggestion, that she could actually look him in the face and say she hoped it might be settled otherwise; in vain however; […]1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter X, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 222
- To treat with forcible means; to take severe or violent measures with.
- to urge an ore with intense heat
- To press onward or forward.
- To be pressing in argument; to insist; to persist.
urge meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
urge in Hindi
- a strong desire; an itch to do something
- इच्छा icchā
urge in Tamil
- உந்துவி, வலியுறுத்து, வற்புறுத்து, தூண்டு, அரித்தெடு, நச்சரி
urge in Marathi
- to urge, hurry or press worryingly
- नाचवणे nāċavṇe
urge in Urdu
- urge, desire, yearning
- طلب talab
More languagesFewer languages
- urge in Bengali
- সামনে অগ্রসর করা śamone ogrośor kora
- urge in Telugu
- త్వరపెట్టు tvarapeṭṭu, వత్తిడి vattiḍi, వత్తిడి తెచ్చు vattiḍi teccu, కోపము తెచ్చు kōpamu teccu
- urge in Malayalam
- പ്രേരണ prēraṇa
- urge in Kannada
- ಪ್ರೇರಣೆ, ಪ್ರಚೋದನೆ, ಕೋರಿಕೆ, ತೀವ್ರ ಆಸೆ
- urge in Sanskrit
- सुवति suvati
- urge in Nepali
- चेप्नु cepnu
- urge in Arabic
- حَثَّ ḥaṯṯa
- urge in Vietnamese
- hối, thúc, giục
Examples of urge in a sentence
- Unless I’m wrong / I but obey / The urge of a song: / I’m—bound—away!1962, Robert Frost, “Away!”, in In the Clearing:
- We will continue to investigate and the USDOT urges all states to revoke illegally issued CDLs.2025 November 14, Sam Stevenson, “California To Revoke Thousands of Driver’s Licenses”, in Newsweek:
- “I can answer a civil question civilly,” said the youth ; “and will pay fitting respect to your age, if you do not urge my patience with mockery.1823, Sir Walter Scott, chapter II, in Quentin Durward, volume I, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co., page 35:
Synonyms of urge
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of urge
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | urges |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | urges |
| present participle | urging |
| past participle | urged |
| past | urged |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | urgest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | urgedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | urgeth |
Origin of urge
From Latin urgeō (“urge”).
Words formed from urge
Words that rhyme with urge
Questions about urge
- What does urge mean?
- Urge means a strong desire to do something.
- What is urge in Hindi?
- Urge in Hindi is इच्छा (icchā). See Urge meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use urge in a sentence?
- Unless I’m wrong / I but obey / The urge of a song: / I’m—bound—away!
- What part of speech is urge?
- Urge can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce urge?
- Urge is pronounced /ɜːd͡ʒ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of urge?
- The plural of urge is urges.
Words near urge in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: urge (page history and authors); urge (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); नाचवणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); طلب (Urdu) (page history and authors); പ്രേരണ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); urge (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); चेप्नु (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “urge.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/urge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.