sermonize

Verb

sermonize (third-person singular simple present sermonizes, present participle sermonizing, simple past and past participle sermonized)

1. (intransitive) To speak in the manner of a sermon; to preach; to propagate one's morality or opinions with speech.
   • And doe not our Prelates thus, when […] they disgrace and traduce Preaching, calling it in scorne, Sermonizing?1636, Henry Burton, For God, and the King, Amsterdam: J.F. Stam, page 150
   • Don’t be alarmed, I am not going to sermonize—but what is almost as dull, to narrate.1776, Elizabeth Griffith, The Story of Lady Juliana Harley, London: T. Cadell, Volume 1, Letter 1, p. 2

   Synonyms:

   moralize

2. (transitive) To preach a sermon to (somebody); to give (somebody) instruction or admonishment on the basis of one's morality or opinions.
   • He wishes, I suppose, to sermonize me: but I shall not give him an opportunity—1798, Thomas Holcroft, He’s Much to Blame, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, act IV, scene 11, pages 68–69
   • “[…] we sermonised her on the presumption of attempting to teach such clever blades as we were, when she was herself so ignorant.”1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 17, in Jane Eyre

   Synonyms:

   lecture, pontificate, preachify

3. (transitive) To say in the manner of a sermon or lecture.
   • “Children, children! Woe, how you do sin!” Mrs. Kavarsky sermonized. “Come now, obey an older person […]”1896, Abraham Cahan, chapter 7, in Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto, New York: Appleton, page 151
   • Then as one man they jumped to their feet and by reason of prolonged cheering gave national impulse to a thought which has since been sermonized from thousands of pulpits.1917, George Creel (uncredited author) and Douglas Fairbanks, Laugh and Live, New York: Britton, Chapter 17, p. 144
4. (intransitive) To inculcate rigid rules.
   • If you consider my letters in their true light as conveying to you the advice of a Friend, who sincerely wishes you happiness, and desires to promote your pleasures, you will both read and attend them; but, if you consider them in their opposite, and very false light, as the dictates of a morose...1748, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, Letters to His Son, 6th edition, London: J. Dodsley, published 1775, Volume 1, Letter 106, p. 309