as in lesson
a public speech usually by a member of the clergy for the purpose of giving moral guidance or uplift
a sermon whose message was that we should love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves
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Recent Examples of sermon
Competitive balance is a convenient sermon from owners who too often treat contention as optional.
—
Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2026
Speeches and sermons circulated widely, helping create a national political identity before the nation itself formally existed.
—Richard Torrenzano, Fortune, 26 May 2026
The fight picked up momentum last week when Rabbi Rachel Timoner, a prominent progressive Jewish leader and ally of Mayor Mamdani, delivered a sermon denouncing the boycott push at the popular Congregation Beth Elohim temple on Eighth Ave.
—Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 23 May 2026
During Muharram’s mourning period, Shiʿis gather in assemblies to hear preachers offer sermons, relate the life of Ḥusayn, and recount the events of the Battle of Karbala.
—Charles Preston, Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for sermon
Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2026
Speeches and sermons circulated widely, helping create a national political identity before the nation itself formally existed.
—Richard Torrenzano, Fortune, 26 May 2026
The fight picked up momentum last week when Rabbi Rachel Timoner, a prominent progressive Jewish leader and ally of Mayor Mamdani, delivered a sermon denouncing the boycott push at the popular Congregation Beth Elohim temple on Eighth Ave.
—Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 23 May 2026
During Muharram’s mourning period, Shiʿis gather in assemblies to hear preachers offer sermons, relate the life of Ḥusayn, and recount the events of the Battle of Karbala.
—Charles Preston, Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for sermon
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sermon
Noun
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The only overriding lesson may be that there are no overriding lessons.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
8 June 2026
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Infantino endured another lesson in the limits of his facile brand of diplomacy in Vancouver, when he was outmaneuvered by Jibril Rajoub, the 73-year-old president of the Palestinian Football Association, who had asked to address the congress.—
Chris Jones,
The Atlantic,
7 June 2026
Noun
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Some of the dialogue feels like Harrison’s own metaphysical musings rather than characters’ speech.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2026
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For people with disabilities, AI is providing higher quality and faster transcription for the deaf, image descriptions for the blind, and speech generation for those unable to communicate verbally.—
Jessica Melugin,
Mercury News,
10 June 2026
Noun
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In Louisiana, Democrats raised concerns about mandatory jail time for disrupting services and warned that the laws were too arbitrary, suggesting that they could be applied against a congregant for singing out of turn as a pastor delivers a homily.—
Jack Brook,
Los Angeles Times,
26 May 2026
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Cole’s canvases were synthetic constructions teeming with homilies.—
Sebastian Smee,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
Noun
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And so on Friday, May 29, after former Blue Ox president Dean Gyorgy headed up a lecture on the team as part of the Hall’s annual Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, everybody stepped into another room for the formal handing-over of all that cool stuff.—
Steve Buckley,
New York Times,
5 June 2026
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No lecture or strict ground rules are required.—
Wendy Rose Gould,
Martha Stewart,
4 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sermon.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sermon. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.
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