catechize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to instruct orally by means of questions and answers, especially in Christian doctrine.
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to question with reference to belief.
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to question closely.
- Synonyms:
- probe, examine, quiz, interrogate
verb
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to teach or examine by means of questions and answers
-
to give oral instruction in Christianity, esp by using a catechism
-
to put questions to (someone)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of catechize
1375–1425; late Middle English < Late Latin catēchizāre < Greek katēchízein to make (someone) learn by teaching orally, equivalent to katēch ( eîn ) to teach orally ( see catechist) + -izein -ize
Vocabulary lists containing catechize
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:
Then the Cardinal began to catechize the priest who had once been an assistant to his secretariat.
From Time Magazine Archive
Therefore it belongs not to the priestly office to catechize and exorcize.
From Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Saint Thomas Aquinas
In a moment the car was again in motion, but the driver, a man of fifty or thereabouts, found time to catechize his guest.
From The Bail Jumper by Robert J. C. Stead
To his great relief, Miss Dickenson did not catechize him closely about his religious views.
From When Ghost Meets Ghost by William Frend De Morgan
But the dean kept Michal back in order to catechize her, and began to put various questions to her, which she answered so promptly and so correctly that he was perfectly delighted.
From Pretty Michal by Mór Jókai
I was, in my view, blessed to be raised in the church and catechized as a little kid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
“This exchange had catechized Julian on several points,” Ava thinks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2020
While they ate, they catechized her on her opinions, and were delighted to find that she believed in God and expected to vote Conservative when she was twenty-one.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 2, 2012
He did not see any reason, he said, why the U.S. people had to be catechized on this every morning before breakfast.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the afternoon the exercises at the meeting house were conducted by Preston, who publicly catechized the negroes very much in the manner that is practised in Northern Sunday schools.
From The Continental Monthly, Vol 3 No 3, March 1863 Devoted To Literature And National Policy by Various
A Clergyman engaged in catechizing a village school, asked a youngster, “what his godfathers and godmothers did for him?”
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2018
Miss Jane sighed and rolled up her eyes, and then the two commenced a vigorous catechizing of the little girl.
From A World of Girls The Story of a School by L. T. Meade
I had once more won the great prize in the world's lottery, and I never ceased catechizing myself in what way I should exercise my power.
From Confessions Of Con Cregan An Irish Gil Blas by Charles James Lever
And at last, when he had exhausted all this catechizing, he heaved a sigh and stopped abruptly.
From Wang the Ninth The Story of a Chinese Boy by B. L. (Bertram Lenox) Putnam Weale
"Interest questions" are just what the words imply, and have about them no suspicion of the inquisitive and impertinent catechizing which only fools, and not even knaves, indulge in.
From Conversation What to Say and How to Say it by Mary Greer Conklin
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