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# preach

«preach» in Mova's school dictionary: **To give a religious talk, called a sermon, to people…** — 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 (preach, preaches, preached, preaching)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (church) To give a religious talk, called a sermon, to people, usually in a church. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preach/#m1)

2) To tell others strongly that something is right and that they should do it: «preach kindness». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preach/#m2)

3) (informal, disapproving) To give advice or tell people what is right in an annoying, bossy way: «Stop preaching at me!» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preach/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In church life the priest, minister or pastor preaches a sermon; in the Bible Jesus and the apostles preach the good news. In everyday life «preach» can be a complaint about someone lecturing others. Phrases: «preach a sermon», «preach the gospel», «practise what you preach» (do what you tell others to do), «preach to the converted» (tell people what they already believe), «preaching to the choir».

### examples

- The vicar preached about forgiveness on Sunday. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preach/#x1)
- Jesus preached to crowds by the lake. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preach/#x2)
- Mum always says we should practise what we preach. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preach/#x3)
- Don't preach at me, I know I made a mistake. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preach/#x4)
- The coach preaches teamwork every training session. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preach/#x5)
- John the Baptist preached in the desert. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preach/#x6)
- Telling our class to recycle was preaching to the converted. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preach/#x7)
- They were going to hear the clergyman preach. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preach/#x8)

### note

Regular verb: preached, preaching. A person who preaches is a preacher; the talk is a sermon. «Preach to» someone, «preach about» something. In the informal sense it is often unkind, like «lecture».

### In the corpora

- [Jonah preached, the whole city of Nineveh repented, and God spared it; Jonah was angry about this.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/10-daniel-jonah-and-the-prophets/13/)
- [St Francis of Assisi called animals his brothers and sisters and, the story says, preached to the birds.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/46-animals/13/)
- ['Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and preach toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel;](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/EZK.507/)
- ['Preach ye not', they preach; 'They shall not preach of these things, that they shall not take shame.'](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/MIC.25/)
- [I have preached righteousness in the great congregation, lo, I did not refrain my lips; O LORD, Thou knowest.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.664/)

### Trees and pragmatics

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