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

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

See Examples For:

catechize catechized catechizing

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

From Time Magazine Archive

I must catechize you for it, madonna: Good my mouse of virtue, answer me.

From Twelfth Night or, What You Will by Kemble, J P

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

All the planters, questioned upon the subject, were willing to give the missionary access to their servants, to preach and catechize, not only on the Sabbath, but during the week.

From Cotton is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments Comprising the Writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartrwright on This Important Subject by Elliott, E. N.

But the worst will be to catechize us as if we were witnesses in court.

From The Brightener by Williamson, A. M. (Alice Muriel)

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

The clerk wondered why he was being catechized about the Frenchman.

From One Wonderful Night A Romance of New York by Tracy, Louis

A Clergyman engaged in catechizing a village school, asked a youngster, “what his godfathers and godmothers did for him?”

From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2018

What is the use of your preaching sermons and catechizing the young, if the Bible at home is a sufficient guide for your people?

From The Faith of Our Fathers by Gibbons, James

One insists upon catechizing him as to dates, another as to his veterinary knowledge--there is only wanting that I should attack him about culinary lore.

From The Danes Sketched by Themselves. Vol. I (of 3) A Series of Popular Stories by the Best Danish Authors by Various

I flared with a childish resentment at this catechizing of his.

From Masterpieces of Mystery, Vol. 1 (of 4) Ghost Stories by French, Joseph Lewis

But they have been to a Jewish catechizing; to be examined in the Jews' Scriptures, you know, and all that.

From Trading by Warner, Susan