What does preach mean?

Definitions for preach
pritʃpreach

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word preach.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. preach, prophesyverb

    deliver a sermon

    "The minister is not preaching this Sunday"

  2. preach, advocateverb

    speak, plead, or argue in favor of

    "The doctor advocated a smoking ban in the entire house"

Wiktionary

  1. preachverb

    Give a sermon.

  2. preachverb

    Advocate or support verbally in an insisting, urging, or inciting manner.

  3. Etymology: prechen, from precchier (Modern French prêcher), from praedicare, present active infinitive of praedico.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Preachnoun

    A discourse; a religious oration.

    Etymology: presche, Fr. from the verb.

    This oversight occasioned the French spitefully to term religion in that sort exercised, a mere preach. Richard Hooker.

  2. To Preachverb

    The Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge, that the word of God was preached of Paul. Acts.

    There is not any thing publickly notified, but we may properly say it is preached. Richard Hooker.

    He oft to them preach’d
    Conversion and repentance. John Milton.

    Can they preach up equality of birth,
    And tell us how we all began from earth. John Dryden.

    Huge heaps of slain;
    Among the rest, the rich Galesus lies,
    A good old man while peace he preach’d in vain,
    Amidst the madness of th’ unruly train. Dryden.

  3. To PREACHverb

    To pronounce a publick discourse upon sacred subjects.

    Etymology: prædico, Lat. prescher, Fr.

    From that time Jesus began to preach. Mat. iv. 17.

    Prophets preach of thee at Jerusalem. Neh. vi. 7.

    Divinity would not pass the yard and loom, the forge or anvil, nor preaching be taken in as an easier supplementary trade, by those that disliked the pains of their own. D. of Pie.

    As he was sent by his father, so were the apostles commissionated by him to preach to the gentile world. D. of Piety.

    The shape of our cathedral is not proper for our preaching auditories, but rather the figure of an amphitheatre with galleries. John Graunt.

Wikipedia

  1. Preach

    Preach is the first single by Canadian rapper Drake from his commercial mixtape If You're Reading This It's Too Late. It features his OVO Sound recording artist PartyNextDoor, who also produced the track.

ChatGPT

  1. preach

    To preach is to publicly proclaim or teach a religious message or belief. It often refers to a religious leader, like a priest or pastor, delivering a sermon or speech to a group of people, generally in a church setting. However, it can also refer to anyone promoting a particular belief, idea, or philosophy in a passionate or persistent manner.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Preachverb

    to proclaim or publish tidings; specifically, to proclaim the gospel; to discourse publicly on a religious subject, or from a text of Scripture; to deliver a sermon

  2. Preachverb

    to give serious advice on morals or religion; to discourse in the manner of a preacher

  3. Preachverb

    to proclaim by public discourse; to utter in a sermon or a formal religious harangue

  4. Preachverb

    to inculcate in public discourse; to urge with earnestness by public teaching

  5. Preachverb

    to deliver or pronounce; as, to preach a sermon

  6. Preachverb

    to teach or instruct by preaching; to inform by preaching

  7. Preachverb

    to advise or recommend earnestly

  8. Preach

    a religious discourse

  9. Etymology: [OE. prechen, OF. preechier, F. prcher, fr. L. praedicare to cry in public, to proclaim; prae before + dicare to make known, dicere to say; or perhaps from (assumed) LL. praedictare. See Diction, and cf. Predicate, Predict.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Preach

    prēch, v.i. to pronounce a public discourse on sacred subjects: to discourse earnestly: to give advice in an offensive or obtrusive manner.—v.t. to publish in religious discourses: to deliver, as a sermon: to teach publicly.—n. (coll.) a sermon.—ns. Preach′er, one who discourses publicly on religious matter: a minister or clergyman; Preach′ership.—v.i. Preach′ify, to preach tediously: to weary with lengthy advice.—ns. Preach′ing, the act of preaching: a public religious discourse: a sermon; Preach′ing-cross, a cross in an open place at which monks, &c., preached.—n.pl. Preach′ing-frī′ars, the Dominicans.—n. Preach′ment, a sermon, in contempt: a discourse affectedly solemn.—adj. Preach′y, given to tedious moralising.—Preach down, and up, to decry, or the opposite. [Fr. prêcher (It. predicare)—L. prædicāre, -ātum, to proclaim.]

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'preach' in Verbs Frequency: #1056

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

Anagrams for preach »

  1. percha

  2. eparch

  3. aperch

How to pronounce preach?

How to say preach in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of preach in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of preach in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of preach in a Sentence

  1. Brian Williams:

    The president was being urged by one member of the crowd to preach, he seemingly tried to at one point — borrowing almost a Richard Pryor delivery to deliver the degree of his disgust and disdain for the other side, the comments clearly aimed at Donald Trump.

  2. Dale Moss:

    It's going to take time. I wanted nothing more than to make this relationship work, […] While this is going to be difficult, what you'll see from me is trying to practice what I preach and continue to put my best foot forward each and every day. While trying to find some sense of normalcy, I'm also going to try and find joy and happiness in each day and continue to share that. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER.

  3. Erica Frank:

    We are n’t just docs, we are still also women and men, and are subject to the same environmental and social influences as are others, we tend to preach to patients what we practice ourselves – so we should be thoughtful about that and not compromise patient care because we ca n’t square it with our behavior.

  4. Sipho P Nkosi:

    Daily we preach the phrase United nations and daily we advance our war weapons. What a shame.

  5. Martin Luther:

    Christ is the Master the Scriptures are only the servant. The true way to test all the Books is to see whether they work the will of Christ or not. No Book which does not preach Christ can be apostolic, though Peter or Paul were its author. And no Book which does preach Christ can fail to be apostolic though Judas, Ananias, Pilate or Herod were its author.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

preach#10000#20470#100000

Translations for preach

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"preach." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 6 Feb. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/preach>.

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    someone who takes the place of another person
    A alternate
    B obnoxious
    C occasional
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