sermon

Noun
Synonyms: discoursepreaching

WordNet 3.0

Noun (2)

  1. an address of a religious nature (usually delivered during a church service)Synonyms: discoursepreaching
  2. a moralistic rebuke“your preaching is wasted on him”Synonyms: preaching
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Sermon \Ser"mon\, n. [OE. sermoun, sermun, F. sermon, fr. L. sermo, -onis, a speaking, discourse, probably fr. serer, sertum, to join, connect; hence, a connected speech. See Series.]

1.A discourse or address; a talk; a writing; as, the sermons of Chaucer. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

2.Specifically, a discourse delivered in public, usually by a clergyman, for the purpose of religious instruction and grounded on some text or passage of Scripture. [1913 Webster]

This our life exempt from public haunts Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones and good in everything.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
His preaching much, but more his practice, wrought, A living sermon of the truths he taught.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]

3.Hence, a serious address; a lecture on one's conduct or duty; an exhortation or reproof; a homily; -- often in a depreciatory sense. [1913 Webster]

Sermon \Ser"mon\, v. i. [Cf. OF. sermoner, F. sermonner to lecture one.] To speak; to discourse; to compose or deliver a sermon. [Obs.] --Holinshed. [1913 Webster]

What needeth it to sermon of it more? --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

Sermon \Ser"mon\, v. t.

1.To discourse to or of, as in a sermon. [Obs.] --Spenser. [1913 Webster]

2.To tutor; to lecture. [Poetic] --Shak. [1913 Webster]

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