To reason earnestly with someone against something that person intends to do or has done.
Origin
Expostulate comes from the Latin word “expostulātus”, which meant “demanded urgently or required.”
Quotes
The tears would run plentifully down my face when I made these reflections; and sometimes I would expostulate with myself, why Providence should thus completely ruin his creatures, and render them so absolutely miserable, so without help abandoned, so entirely depressed, that it could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a life.
— Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
