Sermon
['sɜːmən] or ['sɝmən]
Definition
(noun.) a moralistic rebuke; 'your preaching is wasted on him'.
(noun.) an address of a religious nature (usually delivered during a church service).
Checked by Dylan--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A discourse or address; a talk; a writing; as, the sermons of Chaucer.
(n.) 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.
(n.) Hence, a serious address; a lecture on one's conduct or duty; an exhortation or reproof; a homily; -- often in a depreciatory sense.
(v. i.) To speak; to discourse; to compose or deliver a sermon.
(v. t.) To discourse to or of, as in a sermon.
(v. t.) To tutor; to lecture.
Inputed by Andre
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Homily, exhortation, religious discourse.
Editor: Sallust
Definition
n. a discourse on a text of Scripture delivered during divine service: any serious address any serious counsel admonition or reproof.—v.t. to tutor to lecture.—ns. Sermol′ogus a volume containing sermons by the Church fathers; Sermoneer′ a sermoniser; Ser′moner a preacher; Ser′monet a little sermon.—adjs. Sermon′ic -al having the character of a sermon.—n. Ser′moning the act of preaching: a homily.—v.i. Ser′monise to compose or preach sermons: to lecture: to lay down the law.—v.t. to preach a sermon to.—ns. Sermonī′ser one who preaches or writes sermons; Sermō′nium a historical play formerly acted by the inferior orders of the Roman Catholic clergy; Sermun′cle a little sermon.
Checked by Andrew
Examples
- Ye couldn't treat a poor sinner, now, to a bit of sermon, could ye,--eh? Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- A sermon, good in itself, is no rare thing. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- Think of mass and a sermon away down in those tangled caverns under ground! Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- You are half paid with the sermon, Mrs. Fitchett, remember that. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Martin, I say, disliked Sunday, because the morning service was long, and the sermon usually little to his taste. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Its only organization was an organization of preachers, and its chief function was the sermon. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- I like that kind of sermon. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- The remedy was, to thrust them forward into the centre of the schoolroom, and oblige them to stand there till the sermon was finished. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- His speeches began to turn on platitudes--on the vague idealism and indisputable moralities of the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- A magnificent sermon was preached by my gifted friend on the heathen indifference of the world to the sinfulness of little sins. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- He made then a great sermon to his people of which the tradition is as follows. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Our sermon books are shut up when Miss Crawley arrives, and Mr. Pitt, whom she abominates, finds it convenient to go to town. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- And by the sermon-book was the Observer newspaper, damp and neatly folded, and for Sir Pitt's own private use. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Shall I preach you a sermon? George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I wish I could describe that sermon: but it is past my power. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Then, his preaching was ingenious and pithy, like the preaching of the English Church in its robust age, and his sermons were delivered without book. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Mrs. Crawley, the rector's wife, was a smart little body, who wrote this worthy divine's sermons. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- You spin out your explanation as Moses spins out his sermons. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- How should you have liked making sermons? Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- Other books were produced, and after some deliberation he chose Fordyce's Sermons. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- And I don't think my sermons are worth a load of coals to them. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- How often has my Mick listened to these sermons, she thought, and me reading in the cabin of a calm! William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Many wise and true sermons are preached us every day by unconscious ministers in street, school, office, or home. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- My uncle Benjamin, too, approved of it, and proposed to give me his shorthand volumes of sermons to set up with, if I would learn shorthand. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Seeing this did more for Jo than the wisest sermons, the saintliest hymns, the most fervent prayers that any voice could utter. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- George avoided him in public and in the regiment, and, as we see, did not like those sermons which his senior was disposed to inflict upon him. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- I think the man who could often quarrel with Fanny, said Edmund affectionately, must be beyond the reach of any sermons. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- By hearing him often I came to distinguish easily between sermons newly composed and those which he had often preached in the course of his travels. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- He was author of some elegant verses on the death of Queen Caroline, and published besides some poems and sermons, and died 1788. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Well, what do you think of my sermons from the stage? Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
Editor: Nolan