preach
Americanverb (used with object)
-
preaches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
preached,
past participle, past
-
preaching
present participle
-
to proclaim or make known by sermon (the gospel, good tidings, etc.).
-
to deliver (a sermon).
-
to advocate or inculcate (religious or moral truth, right conduct, etc.) in speech or writing.
verb (used without object)
-
preaches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
preached,
past participle, past
-
preaching
present participle
idioms
verb
-
to make known (religious truth) or give religious or moral instruction or exhortation in (sermons)
-
to advocate (a virtue, action, etc), esp in a moralizing way
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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preachsimple
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preachessimple
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have preachedperfect
-
has preachedperfect
-
am preachingprogressive
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are preachingprogressive
-
is preachingprogressive
-
have been preachingperfect progressive
-
has been preachingperfect progressive
Past
-
preachedsimple
-
had preachedperfect
-
was preachingprogressive
-
were preachingprogressive
-
had been preachingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of preach
1175–1225; Middle English prechen < Old French pre ( ë ) chier < Late Latin praedicāre to preach ( Latin: to assert publicly, proclaim). See predicate
Explanation
To preach is to deliver a sermon or an otherwise powerful message. You may go to church to hear the minister preach, and you may preach tolerance to your friends. Have you ever heard anyone say, "That's preaching to the choir"? That means you're wasting your words on somebody who already believes what you believe. If you're giving an impassioned speech about recycling to an audience dressed in reclaimed clothing and sandals made of old tires, you're likely to be preaching to the choir. The word preach comes from the Latin prae, "before," and dicare, "declare." When you preach, you're not just talking — you're declaring something with conviction.
Vocabulary lists containing preach
Tears of a Tiger
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"Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." and "I Have a Dream"
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Homesick
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But unlike many of the dozens of other similarly minded people and groups working in Africa, Scott and Stauring came not to preach, but to listen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
Wildlife presenter Steve Backshall has told how he sets out to make nature "adventurous" and "cool" for children rather than preach to them.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Pastors and faith leaders can preach on any moral or social issue, including justice, poverty, immigration, war.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
And yes, I practice what I preach and own an energy-stock fund in my own retirement accounts, though none of those mentioned.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
"If you are here about those begging brothers, Tyrion, spare me your re-proaches. I won't have them spreading their filthy treasons in the streets. They can preach to each other in the dungeons."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Owens herself manages to do a bang-up job of distracting people from the way she doesn’t practice what she preaches.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Jin smiles broadly as he preaches on the joy of the Christian faith, only later to launch into a full-throated roar against perceived injustices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
On Tuesday night, Lahmeyer, a 34-year-old who preaches in suits, announced that he was running to represent Tulsa’s solidly red district, which is currently held by Rep. Kevin Hern.
From Slate ● Mar. 26, 2026
Coach Cori Close preaches thriving, not surviving, and that’s been evident in the Bruins’ lopsided victory margin all season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2026
A certain prince of the present times, whom it is best not to name, preaches nothing but peace and faith, and to both one and the other he is extremely hostile.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
Since that first season, Cascione has worked to bring the team-oriented mindset he preached in baseball over to tennis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026
He said he had "consistently preached peace" throughout his life.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
De Zerbi preached patience and he is right - 10 senior arrivals means his team is still to find an identity.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Abdel-Rahman lived and preached in New Jersey before he was convicted in 1995 of seditious conspiracy in relation to the first bombing of the World Trade Center.
From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026
The pastor usually preached too long, and the hallelujahs sometimes got too loud.
From "Stella by Starlight" by Sharon M. Draper
And I just had a whole chapter of preaching about the evils of all these quasi-sinful things one can do when trying to rhyme.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
In his roughly 50 years preaching, Hutchinson says the anxiety he is hearing about AI outranks everything.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
But instead of preaching to the choir, he contends with society’s gray areas, never offering a solution — or even his own opinion — on the difficult topics at hand.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
On long-distance buses, pastors can often be seen - and heard - preaching the gospel.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
In addition to attending protests over the murder at the Duke Chapel, he began reading about a branch of Catholicism called “liberation theology,” which Archbishop Romero had been preaching.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
