preach

See also: preaçh

English

Etymology

From Middle English prechen, from Old French precchier (Modern French prêcher), from Latin praedicāre, present active infinitive of praedicō.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -iːtʃ

Verb

preach (third-person singular simple present preaches, present participle preaching, simple past and past participle preached)

1. (intransitive) To give a sermon.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 3, The Mirror and the Lamp:

     One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.

   A local Muslim used to preach from the Quran and hadith.

2. (transitive) To proclaim by public discourse; to utter in a sermon or a formal religious harangue.
   • Bible, Isa. lxi. 1

     The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.

3. (transitive) To advise or recommend earnestly.
   • Shakespeare

     My master preaches patience to him.

4. (transitive) To teach or instruct by preaching; to inform by preaching.
   • Southey

     As ye are preached.

See also

• praught

Translations

Give a sermon

• Arabic:

  Moroccan Arabic: خطب (khṭab)

• Armenian: քարոզել (kʿarozel)
• Czech: kázat
• Dutch: verkondigen (nl), preken (nl), prediken (nl)
• Esperanto: prediki (eo)
• Finnish: saarnata (fi)
• French: prêcher (fr)
• German: predigen (de)
• Hungarian: prédikál (hu)
• Icelandic: predika

• Ido: predikar (io)
• Luxembourgish: priedegen
• Macedonian: проповеда (propóveda)
• Manx: preaçh, sharmanee
• Portuguese: pregar (pt)
• Romani:

  Kalo Finnish Romani: rakkavaa deevelesko lau, rikkavaa preediika

• Russian: проповедовать (ru) (propovedovatʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: searmonaich
• Swedish: predika (sv)
• Walloon: pretchî (wa)

Advise or recommend earnestly

• Armenian: քարոզել (kʿarozel)
• Czech: kázat
• Finnish: saarnata (fi)
• German: predigen (de)
• Hungarian: prédikál (hu)

• Icelandic: predika
• Macedonian: проповеда (propóveda)
• Portuguese: pregar (pt)
• Swedish: predika (sv)
• Walloon: pretchî (wa), pirlodjî (wa)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: проповядвам

Related terms

• practice what one preaches
• preach to the choir
• preach to the converted

Noun

preach (plural preaches)

1. (obsolete) A religious discourse.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Hooker to this entry?)