expostulatory

[ ik-spos-chuh-luh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee ]

/ ɪkˈspɒs tʃə ləˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /

expostulating; conveying expostulation.

Also ex·pos·tu·la·tive

[ik-spos-chuh-ley-tiv] /ɪkˈspɒs tʃəˌleɪ tɪv/.

Origin of expostulatory

First recorded in 1580–90; expostulate + -ory¹

Her letters were exposed, her expostulatory verses read at clubs and taverns, and the unhappy Sappho toasted in derision.

Coelebs In Search of a Wife |Hannah More
De Launay, if you love me, do not look at me with so expostulatory an air!

Temporal Power |Marie Corelli
With expostulatory shakes of the head and indignant glances I called his attention to the fact that I was not alone.

The Arrow of Gold |Joseph Conrad
There I wrote to Wagner an expostulatory letter, alluding to a couple of plays with which we were both familiar, viz.

Wagner as I Knew Him |Ferdinand Christian Wilhelm Praeger

The comments of the press began to assume an expostulatory tone.

James Fenimore Cooper |Thomas R. Lounsbury