preach

[preech]

verb (used with object)

1. to proclaim or make known by sermon (the gospel, good tidings, etc.).

2. to deliver (a sermon).

3. to advocate or inculcate (religious or moral truth, right conduct, etc.) in speech or writing.

verb (used without object)

1. to deliver a sermon.

2. to give earnest advice, as on religious or moral subjects or the like.

   Synonyms: expound, pronounce, profess, advocate

3. to give earnest advice in an obtrusive or tedious way.

preach

/ priːtʃ /

verb

1. to make known (religious truth) or give religious or moral instruction or exhortation in (sermons)

2. to advocate (a virtue, action, etc), esp in a moralizing way

Other Word Forms

• outpreach verb (used with object)
• unpreached adjective
• preachable adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of preach¹

1175–1225; Middle English prechen < Old French pre ( ë ) chier < Late Latin praedicāre to preach ( Latin: to assert publicly, proclaim). See predicate

Word History and Origins

Origin of preach¹

C13: from Old French prechier, from Church Latin praedicāre, from Latin: to proclaim in public; see _predicate

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. preach to the choir. preach to the choir.

More idioms and phrases containing preach

• practice what you preach

Example Sentences

He says the day would start with Quran recitals at dawn, followed by lessons at a madrassa - religious school - and preaching sessions at the mosque.

Read more on BBC

Later, as a scholarship student at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., he spent many Sundays preaching at area churches.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But it is so firmly grounded in truthful and complicated detail drawn from Mr. Dunne’s actual experience that it makes its powerful moral argument without any need for grandstanding or preaching.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“They can become motivated to practice what they preach,” he says.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“Because if you’re preaching something, it’s like you’re somehow better off. There is nothing to preach. It is what it is.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• exhort 
• teach