urge meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

urge

noun

UK /ɜːd͡ʒ/ · US /ɝd͡ʒ/

Etymology From Latin urgeō (“urge”).

A strong desire to do something.

3 more examples

repress your urges
satisfy your urges
Unless I’m wrong / I but obey / The urge of a song: / I’m—bound—away!1962, Robert Frost, “Away!”, in In the Clearing:

verb

Etymology From Latin urgeō (“urge”).

8 senses

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:

1 more example

"The initial results in California speak for themselves. We will continue to investigate and the USDOT urges all states to revoke illegally issued CDLs. This initiative ensures our roads are safer for American families."2025 November 14, Sam Stevenson, “California To Revoke Thousands of Driver’s Licenses”, in Newsweek:

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 cauſe.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, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 345, column 2, lines 51–57:

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 Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, act IV, scene iii, page 24:
“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 carry by my side ; but my true name, when at home, is Quentin Durward.”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 Renunciation of Lyric Poetry (in Classical Latin), published 1851:

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:

1 more example

As I understand it, that was a valid objection urged by Momus against the house which Minerva made, that she "had not made it movable, by which means a bad neighborhood might be avoided"; and it may still be urged, for our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in them; and the bad neighborhood to be avoided is our own scurvy selves.1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:

Obsolete To treat with forcible means; to take severe or violent measures with.

To press onward or forward.

To be pressing in argument; to insist; to persist.