sermon
pronunciation
How to pronounce sermon in British English:
UK [ˈsɜːmən]
How to pronounce sermon in American English:
US [ˈsɜːrmən]
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- Noun:
- an address of a religious nature (usually delivered during a church service)
- a moralistic rebuke
Word Origin
- sermon
- sermon: [12] Latin sermō meant simply ‘talk, conversation, discourse’, but by the time it reached English via Anglo-Norman sermun it had narrowed down to an ‘address given from a pulpit on a religious topic’. It is not clear what its ultimate ancestry is, but probably the favourite candidate as its source is the Indo-European base *swer-, *swar-, which gave English answer and swear.
- sermon (n.)
- c. 1200, sarmun, "a discourse upon a text of scripture; what is preached," from Anglo-French sermun, Old French sermon "speech, words, discourse; church sermon, homily" (10c.), from Latin sermonem (nominative sermo) "continued speech, conversation; common talk, rumor; learned talk, discourse; manner of speaking, literary style," originally "a stringing together of words," from PIE *ser-mo-, suffixed form of root *ser- (3) "to line up, join" (see series). Main modern sense in English and French is elliptical for Latin sermo religiosus. In transferred (non-religious) use from 1590s. The Sermon on the Mount is in 5,6,7 Matt. and 6 Luke. Related: Sermonic; sermonical; sermonish.
Synonym
Example
- 1. A sermon at church this summer made me question it .
- 2. Or - " you tried on that sermon , but good try ! "
- 3. And promptly stormed out , offended by the bishop 's sermon about multiculturalism .
- 4. After the sermon , the reverend brooks introduced me to speak for carter .
- 5. It is always worth asking why the summary of a particular sermon is included in acts .