edifying

American  

[ed-uh-fahy-ing] / ˈɛd əˌfaɪ ɪŋ /

adjective

1. instructive or beneficial, especially morally or spiritually; uplifting.

   We had our meals together, during which we listened to reading from an edifying children's book.

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Other Word Forms

• edifyingly adverb
• unedifying adjective

Etymology

Origin of edifying

edify + -ing ²

Explanation

Anything edifying is enlightening. Edifying things uplift people intellectually or morally and help them learn. Good literature, art, and music are edifying. The original meaning of edify was "to build," and things that are edifying build up a person, especially in an intellectual or moral way. It’s often used in the negative. If you say something is not edifying, you mean that it’s unpleasant and unacceptable. Edifying applies to things that help you become a better person. A wise saying is edifying. A powerful documentary is edifying. The words of a good teacher are often edifying. Word definitions are definitely edifying!

Example Sentences

Equally as edifying is Lincoln’s 1858 “electric cord” speech, which explicitly confronted Know-Nothing xenophobia.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 16, 2025

But it’s an edifying experience, hurtling forward with only the mighty light of intrepid wonder to guide us.

From Salon • Jan. 25, 2025

Nik goes further and says it was "absolutely edifying".

From BBC • Nov. 29, 2024

The power of absence and refusal is perhaps more edifying in literature — see “The Stranger,” “The Quiet Man,” the brick-wall calm of I-would-prefer-not-to Bartleby — than in real life.

From New York Times • Mar. 9, 2024

The atmosphere should probably sharpen your ears and restrain me to concentrate on those aspects which are tasty, edifying and constructive.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela