preach

verb

preached; preaching; preaches

intransitive verb

1
: to deliver a sermon
2
: to urge acceptance or abandonment of an idea or course of action
specifically : to exhort in an officious or tiresome manner

transitive verb

1
: to set forth in a sermon
preach the gospel
2
: to advocate earnestly
preached revolution
3
: to deliver (something, such as a sermon) publicly
4
: to bring, put, or affect by preaching
preached the … church out of debtAmer. Guide Series: Va.
preachingly adverb

Examples of preach in a Sentence

Have you ever heard that minister preach? The minister preached to the congregation about the need for tolerance. His followers listened to him preach the gospel. The priest preached a regular sermon that Sunday. Their mother has always preached the value of a good education. Practice what you preach—don't smoke if you tell your children not to smoke. The mayor continues to preach about the need for patience. I don't like being preached at about how I should live my life.
Recent Examples on the Web For years, Henrik Fisker has preached the gospel of selling EVs that people can afford. Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 1 Mar. 2024 Smotrich, like a third of West Bank settlers today, follows the teachings of a rabbi named Tzvi Yehuda Kook, who preached that Jews should play an active role in bringing about God’s forgiveness by gaining possession of the entirety of the Biblical Land of Israel. Shane Bauer, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2024 Adherents of the ideology have grown in prominence and power in the years since the 2016 election, when Trump became an unlikely hero of the Christian right and cultivated relationships with celebrity pastors who preach the Seven Mountains Mandate. Mike Hixenbaugh, NBC News, 23 Feb. 2024 The vote also showed that Mr. Khan’s strategy of preaching reform and railing against the military has resonated deeply with Pakistanis — particularly young people — who are disillusioned with the political system. Christina Goldbaum, New York Times, 10 Feb. 2024 Calver preached moderation and healthy living and dispensed the kind of advice we are used to hearing these days. Bryant Stamford, The Courier-Journal, 22 Feb. 2024 Johnson preaches perhaps the most brazen iteration of Silicon Valley’s emerging obsession with AI and commitment to restructuring society around the technology. Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 22 Feb. 2024 Frankly, the last person who should be preaching about wasting taxpayer money is Dixon, who lavished taxpayer money on her sister, her campaign chair and her boyfriend. Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 10 Feb. 2024 People were rooting for the plucky upstart team with a coach who was not afraid of the team’s history and preached a consistent message for emerging out of the darkness, but the real fandom picked up during the 2022 season. Jared Ramsey, Detroit Free Press, 19 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'preach.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English prechen, from Anglo-French precher, from Late Latin praedicare, from Latin, to proclaim, make known, from prae- pre- + dicare to proclaim — more at diction

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of preach was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near preach

Cite this Entry

“Preach.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preach. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

preach

verb
1
a
: to deliver a sermon : utter publicly
b
: to set forth in a sermon
preach the gospel
2
: to urge publicly : advocate
preach brotherhood

More from Merriam-Webster on preach

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