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preach.

To give a sermon.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/pɹiːt͡ʃ/UK/pɹit͡ʃ/US
  1. To give a sermon.

    intransitive
    Our pastor can preach very well.
  2. To proclaim by public discourse; to utter in a sermon or a formal religious harangue.

    transitive
  3. To advise or recommend earnestly.

    transitive
  4. To teach or instruct by preaching; to inform by preaching.

    transitive
  5. To give advice in an offensive or obtrusive manner.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

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”).

noun/pɹiːt͡ʃ/UK/pɹit͡ʃ/US
  1. A religious discourse.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

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”).

intj/pɹiːt͡ʃ/UK/pɹit͡ʃ/US
  1. Used to express strong agreement (as if encouraging somebody to continue speaking).

    slang
    – If you can't do the time, don't do the crime! – Preach!
Where this word comes from

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”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.