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

Example Sentences

They prepare students to discern right from wrong, truth from lies—a process so edifying it can be, as Mr. Kessler advises, as “fun” and “addictive” as any tech.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 14, 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

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

“It was such an edifying moment for us both to see the scope of a lifetime of work dedicated to investigating these sets of questions that are formal, conceptual, cultural and material.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 29, 2023

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