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# pray

«pray» in Mova's school dictionary: **To speak to God or a god, to give thanks, ask for help or…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (pray, prays, prayed, praying)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To speak to God or a god, to give thanks, ask for help or say you are sorry. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pray/#m1)

2) To hope very strongly that something will happen: "We prayed for sunshine on sports day." [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pray/#m2)

3) In old-fashioned English, pray can mean please. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pray/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life many families pray before meals, at bedtime or in a church, mosque, synagogue or temple; others do not pray, and both are respected. In religious education lessons pupils learn how different faiths pray. In stories a character who "prays" for something shows how much they want it. Phrases: pray for, pray to, say a prayer.

### examples

- Some families pray before they eat dinner. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pray/#x1)
- Muslims pray five times a day. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pray/#x2)
- Grandma prays for us every night. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pray/#x3)
- The farmers prayed for rain after the long dry summer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pray/#x4)
- We were all praying that the bus would not be late. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pray/#x5)
- In assembly we learned how Hindus pray at a temple. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pray/#x6)
- He knelt down to pray in the church. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pray/#x7)
- "Take it pray, as a present!" [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pray/#x8)

### note

Regular verb: pray, prayed, praying. The noun is "prayer". Homophone trap: "pray" (talk to God) and "prey" (an animal hunted by another animal) sound the same. "I pray" is about hope or worship, not about hunting. People of different faiths pray in different ways, and some people do not pray at all.

### In the corpora

- [They share memories, sing or pray, and then the body is buried or cremated.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/25-funerals-and-remembering/1/)
- [There is a real Chinese martial art called Praying Mantis style, said to have been inspired by watching a mantis fight.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/137-kung-fu-panda-real-mantises-snakes-and-monkeys/5/)
- [Church is a place where people pray, listen and keep quiet together.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/364-giggles-sunday-school-and-the-collection-plate/11/)
- [Giggling during prayers can disturb people who are praying around you.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/364-giggles-sunday-school-and-the-collection-plate/24/)
- ["Prey" is an animal hunted for food; "pray" means speak to God or a god.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/27-homophones-words-that-sound-the-same/13/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «pray» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pray/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.