preach

The word “preach” means to deliver a religious message or sermon, usually in public. In plain terms, to give a religious talk, or, more generally, to lecture someone about how they should behave.

“Preach” is pronounced preech (/pɹit͡ʃ/ in IPA).

Here is “preach” used in a sentence: “The pastor preached about forgiveness on Sunday morning.”

“Preach” is a verb.

The word “preach” comes from Latin. From Old French "prechier," from Latin "praedicare," meaning "to proclaim" or "announce publicly.".

“Preach” is an uncommon word in modern English, usually learned at around the C1 level.

“Preach” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: to deliver a religious message or sermon, usually in public.

Preach specifically refers to delivering a religious message or sermon, usually in public, or giving moral advice in an overbearing way, while teach is a neutral term for imparting knowledge or skills on any subject. Preach carries a moral or religious weight that teach does not necessarily have.

When someone says 'don't preach at me,' they are objecting to being given moral or practical advice in a way that feels tiresome or overbearing, rather than to religious preaching specifically. This figurative sense of preach is common in everyday complaints about unwanted lecturing.

Preach often carries a moral or religious tone and can imply repetitiveness or self-righteousness, while lecture more generally means giving a formal talk or reprimand, which may or may not involve morality. Both can describe unwanted advice, but preach leans more toward moralizing.