■ verb
1》 deliver a religious address to an assembled group of people.
↘publicly proclaim (a religious message).
2》 earnestly advocate (a principle): my parents always ~ed tolerance.
↘( ~ at ) give moral advice to (someone) in a self-righteous way.
Derivatives
~er noun
~iness noun
~y adjective
Origin
ME: from OFr. prechier , from L. praedicare 'proclaim', in eccles. L. '~'.