Edify
['edɪfaɪ]
Definition
(v. i.) To build; to construct.
(v. i.) To instruct and improve, especially in moral and religious knowledge; to teach.
(v. i.) To teach or persuade.
(v. i.) To improve.
Inputed by Conrad
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Instruct (in order to improve the character), teach, enlighten, educate, improve.
Checked by Curtis
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Enlighten, instruct, improve
ANT:Misguide, mislead, misinform
Typist: Shane
Definition
v.t. to build: to build up the faith of: to strengthen spiritually towards faith and holiness: to comfort: to improve the mind:—pr.p. ed′ifying; pa.p. ed′ified.—n. Edificā′tion instruction: progress in knowledge or in goodness.—adj. Ed′ificatory tending to edification.—n. Ed′ifice a large building or house.—adj. Edific′ial structural.—n. Ed′ifier one who edifies.—adj. Ed′ifying instructive: improving.—adv. Ed′ifyingly.
Editor: Winthrop
Examples
- You know I'm such a graceless dog that these religious aspects of such subjects don't edify me much. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Mother, you have found your match, pronounced little Jessie, whom the scene appeared greatly to edify. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- It was very edifying, baby. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Second, that he had forgiven everybody else, and had made a most edifying end. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Mrs. Bute certainly thought herself one of the most virtuous women in England, and the sight of her happy family was an edifying one to strangers. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- There are a perfect host of Clarksons and Wilberforces* risen up among us on that subject, most edifying to hear and behold. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- On this question there arose the edifying brow-beating, customary on such points. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Among the sights of Europe, that of Rome has ever been held one of the most striking and in some respects edifying. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It is quite edifying to hear women speculate upon the worthlessness and the duration of beauty. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- In consequence of Mrs. Snagsby looking deeply edified, Mr. Snagsby thinks it expedient on the whole to say amen, which is well received. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- And this was more terrific to her husband (as perhaps she knew) than any flow of eloquence with which she could have edified the company. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Nor were the two last-named gentlemen as much edified as they might have been by the moving passages narrated. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- She was edified at the complete though abrupt diversion of his homage from herself to the heiress. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
Inputed by Addie