sermonize
Verb
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Verb
sermonize (sermonizes, present participle sermonizing; past and past participle sermonized)
- (intransitive) To speak in the manner of a sermon; to preach; to propagate one's morality or opinions with speech.
- 1636, Henry Burton (theologian), For God, and the King, Amsterdam: J.F. Stam, p. 150,
- And doe not our Prelates thus, when […] they disgrace and traduce Preaching, calling it in scorne, Sermonizing?
- 1776, Elizabeth Griffith, The Story of Lady Juliana Harley, London: T. Cadell, Volume 1, Letter 1, p. 2,
- Don’t be alarmed, I am not going to sermonize—but what is almost as dull, to narrate.
- 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Chapter 45,
- “ […] I am perhaps talking rather superfluously; but a man likes to assume superiority over himself, by holding up his bad example and sermonizing on it.”
- 1949, Sinclair Lewis, The God-Seeker, New York: Popular Library, Chapter 13, p. 69,
- […] she would distrust him if she saw him again before he had achieved all his promises; had journeyed clear out to the Mississippi […] and had become fluent in sermonizing in the Dakota language. No, he must see her next in his glory as a practicing missionary.
- 1983, Cynthia Ozick, The Cannibal Galaxy, New York: Dutton, 1984, p. 12,
- Sometimes Claude would lead Joseph to the Louvre—a magnificence Joseph had never before entered—and point out the darker paintings and sermonize on them; Claude was an aesthete.
- 1636, Henry Burton (theologian), For God, and the King, Amsterdam: J.F. Stam, p. 150,
- (transitive) To preach a sermon to (somebody); to give (somebody) instruction or admonishment on the basis of one's morality or opinions.
- 1798, Thomas Holcroft, He’s Much to Blame, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, Act IV, Scene 11, pp. 68-69,
- He wishes, I suppose, to sermonize me: but I shall not give him an opportunity—
- 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter 17,
- “ […] we sermonised her on the presumption of attempting to teach such clever blades as we were, when she was herself so ignorant.”
- 1869, Robert Browning, The Ring and the Book, London: Smith, Elder, Volume 4, Book 10, lines 459-461, p. 21,
- Why was the choice o’ the man to niche himself
- Perversely ’neath the tower where Time’s own tongue
- Thus undertakes to sermonize the world?
- 1914, Arnold Bennett, The Price of Love, London: Methuen, Chapter 6, p. 126,
- He could talk morals to others in the grand manner, and with positive enjoyment, but to be sermonized himself secretly exasperated him because it constrained him and made him self-conscious.
- 1953, Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March, New York: Viking, 1960, Chapter 3, p. 28,
- […] maybe she sermonized us both about love because of her sons.
- 1798, Thomas Holcroft, He’s Much to Blame, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, Act IV, Scene 11, pp. 68-69,
- (transitive) To say in the manner of a sermon or lecture.
- 1896, Abraham Cahan, Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto, New York: Appleton, Chapter 7, p. 151,
- “Children, children! Woe, how you do sin!” Mrs. Kavarsky sermonized. “Come now, obey an older person […] ”
- 1917, George Creel (uncredited author) and Douglas Fairbanks, Laugh and Live, New York: Britton, Chapter 17, p. 144,
- Then as one man they jumped to their feet and by reason of prolonged cheering gave national impulse to a thought which has since been sermonized from thousands of pulpits.
- 1960, Paul Alexander Bartlett, When the Owl Cries, New York: Macmillan, Chapter 11,
- “I tell you, we’re in for bad times,” de Selva sermonized before a group. “Our haciendas are threatened by renegades […] ”
- 1896, Abraham Cahan, Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto, New York: Appleton, Chapter 7, p. 151,
- (intransitive) To inculcate rigid rules.
- 1748, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, Letters to His Son, London: J. Dodsley, 6th edition, 1775, Volume 1, Letter 106, p. 309,
- If you consider my letters in their true light as conveying to you the advice of a Friend, who sincerely wishes you happiness, and desires to promote your pleasures, you will both read and attend them; but, if you consider them in their opposite, and very false light, as the dictates of a morose and sermonizing Father, I am sure they will be not only unattended to, but unread.
- 1748, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, Letters to His Son, London: J. Dodsley, 6th edition, 1775, Volume 1, Letter 106, p. 309,
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004