Link Centre Dictionary

preach

UK/pɹiːt͡ʃ/ US/pɹit͡ʃ/ fairly common slang

verb

1.

deliver a sermon

  • “The minister is not preaching this Sunday”
Synonyms
2.

speak, plead, or argue in favour of

  • “The doctor advocated a smoking ban in the entire house”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English prechen, from Old French prëechier, precchier (Modern French prêcher), from Latin praedicō (“to proclaim, announce”, literally “to fore-assign, pre-dedicate”). Doublet of predicate. The Latin word is also the source of Old English predician (“to preach”), Saterland Frisian preetje (“to preach”), West Frisian preekje (“to preach”), Dutch preken (“to preach”), German Low German preken (“to preach”), German predigen (“to preach”), Danish prædike (“to preach”), Swedish predika (“to preach”), Icelandic prédika (“to preach”), Norwegian Nynorsk preika (“to preach”).

Phrases

  • practice what one preaches
  • practise what one preaches
  • preach down
  • preach in the desert
  • preach to deaf ears
  • preaching band
  • preaching cross
  • preaching friar

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.