PREACH

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does preach mean? 

• PREACH (verb)
  The verb PREACH has 2 senses:

1. deliver a sermon

2. speak, plead, or argue in favor of

  Familiarity information: PREACH used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PREACH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they preach    ... he / she / it preaches   
Past simple: preached   
Past participle: preached   
-ing form: preaching   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deliver a sermon

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

preach; prophesy

Context example:

The minister is not preaching this Sunday

Hypernyms (to "preach" is one way to...):

lecture; talk (deliver a lecture or talk)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "preach"):

evangelise; evangelize (preach the gospel (to))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Something ----s to somebody
Somebody ----s on something

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue preach

Derivation:

preacher (someone whose occupation is preaching the gospel)

preaching (an address of a religious nature (usually delivered during a church service))

preachment (a sermon on a moral or religious topic)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Speak, plead, or argue in favor of

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

advocate; preach

Context example:

The doctor advocated a smoking ban in the entire house

Hypernyms (to "preach" is one way to...):

exhort; press; urge; urge on (force or impel in an indicated direction)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "preach"):

moralise; moralize; preachify; sermonise; sermonize (speak as if delivering a sermon; express moral judgements)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Somebody ----s to somebody

Derivation:

preaching (a moralistic rebuke)

 Context examples 

I'm going, so you needn't try to preach propriety, for you can't do it, Jo.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Am I to be preached to by a child?” he cried, staring across at Alleyne with an inflamed and angry countenance.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You must preach at Mansfield, you know, that Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram may hear you.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

You must feel it; and the usual satisfaction of preaching patience to a sufferer is denied me, because you have always so much.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

“You preach, about as consistent as they did. Won't umbleness go down? I shouldn't have got round my gentleman fellow-partner without it, I think. —Micawber, you old bully, I'll pay YOU!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He had started out preaching it to his sister and brother-in-law.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Ministers began to preach sermons against "Ephemera," and one, who too stoutly stood for much of its content, was expelled for heresy.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Look here, Watson, he said when the cloth was cleared just sit down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You and those like you have been preaching peace for nigh two thousand years, and cutting throats the whole time.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Miss Nash has put down all the texts he has ever preached from since he came to Highbury.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)