preach
v.v. to give a talk about religion or morals, usually in a church. You can also use it when someone gives you unwanted advice in a serious or annoying way.
v. to deliver a sermon or religious address to an assembled group; by extension, to advocate for a belief or behavior in a moralizing manner.
He likes to preach about the benefits of a healthy diet.
The minister stood at the pulpit to preach a sermon about forgiveness and community service.
While the candidate continued to preach fiscal responsibility to the crowd, critics pointed to his own history of excessive spending during his previous term in office.
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”).
The verb can be used intransitively or transitively with a direct object; it often takes the preposition 'to' for the audience or 'about' for the topic.
He preached me about my mistakesHe preached to me about my mistakesPreach requires the preposition 'to' before the person being addressed; it does not take an indirect object directly.
- 01
preach in the desert
To speak to or persuade a nearly nonexistent audience, or to an audience not listening.
- 02
preach to deaf ears
To attempt to persuade a party that does not wish to listen or cannot be altered in its conviction.
- 03
preach to the choir
To speak as if to convince a person or group of something they already believe.