catechize

American  

[kat-i-kahyz] / ˈkæt ɪˌkaɪz /

especially British, catechise

verb (used with object)

catechized, catechizing

1. to instruct orally by means of questions and answers, especially in Christian doctrine.

2. to question with reference to belief.

3. to question closely.

   Synonyms:

   probe, examine, quiz, interrogate

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catechize British  

/ ˈkætɪˌkaɪz /

verb

1. to teach or examine by means of questions and answers

2. to give oral instruction in Christianity, esp by using a catechism

3. to put questions to (someone)

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Other Word Forms

• catechist
  noun
• catechistic
  adjective
• catechistically
  adverb
• catechizable
  adjective
• catechization
  noun
• catechizer
  noun
• uncatechized
  adjective

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

Example Sentences

Then the Cardinal began to catechize the priest who had once been an assistant to his secretariat.

From Time Magazine Archive

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 Stead, Robert J. C.

And he proceeded to catechize and badger them one by one, filling page after page of his notebook with their replies.

From A Rip Van Winkle Of The Kalahari Seven Tales of South-West Africa by Cornell, Frederick

Miss Patty left the millionaire Mr. Bragg in the lurch, and began to catechize Theodore on the subject of the Cheffington family.

From That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 1 by Trollope, Frances Eleanor

He has forbidden them to go out as they ought to the visitas, and to confess, preach, and catechize.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 41 of 55, 1691-1700 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century. by Blair, Emma Helen