sermon
Syllables: ser·monUK/ˈsɜː.mən//ˈsɝ.mən/
sermon noun: religious discourse; a written or spoken address on a religious or moral matter.
Noun
sermon (plural sermons)
- Religious discourse; a written or spoken address on a religious or moral matter.
- One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.” He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience...1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
- A lengthy speech of reproval.
- Synonyms:
- browbeating, dressing down, lecture, berating, chiding, chockling, correption, dirdum, down the banks, going over
Verb
sermon (third-person singular simple present sermons, present participle sermoning, simple past and past participle sermoned)
- To discourse to or of, as in a sermon.
- January 23 1583, Edmund Spenser, letter to Walter Raleigh
To some I know this methode will seem displeasaunt, which had rather have good discipline delivered plainly in way of precepts, or sermoned at large, as they use, then thus clowdily enwrapped in allegorical devises
- January 23 1583, Edmund Spenser, letter to Walter Raleigh
- To tutor; to lecture.
- Come, sermon me no further.c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
sermon meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sermon in Hindi
- religious discourse
- उपदेश updeś, प्रवचन pravcan
sermon in Tamil
- அறவுரை, சமய விரிவுரை, சமய உரை, செய்தி, பிரசங்கம், சமயவிரிவுரை
sermon in Marathi
- religious discourse
- प्रवचन pravcan
sermon in Urdu
- religious discourse
- وعظ va'z, خطبہ xutba
More languagesFewer languages
- sermon in Bengali
- খুতবা khutoba, ওয়াজ ōẇaj
- sermon in Malayalam
- വചനം vacanaṁ
- sermon in Kannada
- ಉಪದೇಶ, ಧರ್ಮೋಪದೇಶ, ಮತೀಯ ಉಪನ್ಯಾಸ, ಧಾರ್ಮಿಕ ಪ್ರಚಾರ ಭಾಷಣ
- sermon in Gujarati
- ભાષણ bhāṣaṇ, પ્રવચન pravcan, ખુતબો khutbo
- sermon in Odia
- ଧର୍ମୋପଦେଶ
- sermon in Nepali
- धर्मोपदेश
- sermon in Pashto
- موعظه mo'eza, وعظ wa'z, خطبه xotba
- sermon in Arabic
- مَوْعِظَة mawʕiẓa, خُطْبَة ḵuṭba, وَعْظ waʕẓ
- sermon in Malay
- khutbah, khotbah
- sermon in Indonesian
- khotbah, sermon
- sermon in Persian
- موعظه mow'eze, خطابه xetâbe, وعظ va'z, خطبه xotbe
- sermon in Thai
- เทศน์ têet, เทศนา têet-sà-nǎa
- sermon in Vietnamese
- thuyết giáo
Examples of sermon in a sentence
- In his sermon, the minister didn’t try to whitewash over the sins of his church.
- A sidewalk preacher gave an impassioned sermon while an assistant leafleted those who stayed to listen.
- He used the day's collect as the basis of his sermon.
Synonyms of sermon
5 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of sermon
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | sermons |
| alternative form (dialectal) | sarmon |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | sermons |
| present participle | sermoning |
| past participle | sermoned |
| past | sermoned |
Origin of sermon
From Middle English sermoun, from Anglo-Norman sermun and/or Old French sermon, from Latin sermō, sermōnem, from Proto-Indo-European *sermō, from *ser- (“to bind”) + *-mō. Displaced native Old English wordpredicung, literally word + preaching.
From Middle English sermonen, from Old French sermoner, from sermon (see above).
Words formed from sermon
Phrases with sermon
Words that rhyme with sermon
Questions about sermon
- What does sermon mean?
- Sermon means religious discourse; a written or spoken address on a religious or moral matter.
- What is sermon in Hindi?
- Sermon in Hindi is उपदेश (updeś), प्रवचन (pravcan). See Sermon meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is sermon?
- Sermon can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce sermon?
- Sermon is pronounced /ˈsɜː.mən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of sermon?
- The plural of sermon is sermons.
Words near sermon in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sermon (page history and authors); sermon (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); വചനം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); sermon (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sermon (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sermon (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-sermon.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sermon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sermon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.