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
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to make known (religious truth) or give religious or moral instruction or exhortation in (sermons)
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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
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has preachedperfect
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am preachingprogressive
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are preachingprogressive
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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:
The strategists also preach caution and expect continued investor wariness around so-called “AI cannibalization areas,” namely the software, business services and media sectors.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
Pastors and faith leaders can preach on any moral or social issue, including justice, poverty, immigration, war.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
Two women dressed in green and pink fur cradle each other’s heads, reimagining medieval depictions of cephalophores — Christian martyrs who carry their severed heads while continuing to preach or pray.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
"We want to be a place where there's a mixing of lots of perspectives, and this is us practicing what we preach -- a cosmologist working closely with a condensed matter theorist."
From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026
Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin’ on high, but they wasn’t no pulpit for me.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
Marsh & McLennan, which advises others on risk, ranks third in resilience—a sign that it practices what it preaches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 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
Smith-Njigba said Kupp’s greatest influence was the “process over results” Kupp preaches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2026
But experts who work with children say that there is a long way to go before the system can properly implement the ideals the law preaches.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2026
“His church is mostly immigrants. They can’t understand him if he preaches in English.”
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Martin O'Neill sang their praises in the aftermath and preached caution ahead of the second leg, as he was obliged to do.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 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
Civic engagement was not something they preached, it was how they lived.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
He has led talks to energize employees, reminding them never to speak of the company’s forthcoming products, a nod to the company’s secrecy dogma preached by Jobs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
“If the Lord didn’t want us to take as much as we could get,” he preached, “He wouldn’t have given us too good hands to take it with.”
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Though Awlaki's extremist preaching would come into sharper focus after 9/11, at the time the paintballing video was recorded he already had connections to al-Qaeda operatives and was shortly to be investigated by the FBI.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
“We’ve been preaching change all along,” Mozeliak said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
As much as she was proud of where she was from, Dolly also spent the latter part of her years preaching and living out loud a sermon to her native region.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
This is where we find Lestat in Season 3, preaching the gospel that this is his time.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
After all, King himself was speaking, first and foremost, as a preacher, fulfilling an emerging mission of religion: preaching the social gospel of justice and equality.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Definitions 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.
