homily
pronunciation
How to pronounce homily in British English:
UK [ˈhɒməli]
How to pronounce homily in American English:
US [ˈhɑməli]
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- Noun:
- a sermon on a moral or religious topic
Word Origin
- homily
- homily: [14] Etymologically, a homily is a discourse addressed to a ‘crowd of people’. The word comes via Old French omelie and late Latin homīlia from Greek homīlíā ‘discourse’. This was a derivative of hōmílos ‘crowd’, originally a compound noun formed from homou ‘together’ and ílē ‘crowd’. Its moral connotations emerged in the original Greek.
- homily (n.)
- late 14c., omelye, from Old French omelie (12c., Modern French homélie), from Church Latin homilia "a homily, sermon," from Greek homilia "conversation, discourse," used in New Testament Greek for "sermon," from homilos "an assembled crowd," from homou "together" (from PIE *somo-, from root *sem- (1) "one, as one, together with;" see same) + ile "troop" (cognate with Sanskrit melah "assembly," Latin miles "soldier"). Latinate form restored in English 16c.
Example
- 1. We listened to her homily about the rising cost of living .
- 2. Out in nebraska , warren buffett , the world 's most successful investor , delivered his annual homily to the admiring stockholders of berkshire hathaway .
- 3. Every western casualty , every reinforcement and every pious political homily on the " justness " and " necessity " of the war seem only to leave the mission floundering deeper and more hopelessly .
- 4. In his annual pre-christmas homily , the top roman catholic bishop in the area , fouad twal , celebrated that achievement for the palestinians and urged them to work with the israelis to end the region 's seemingly endless conflict .