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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

edify en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɛdɪfaɪ/
  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Old French edifier (“to build, to edify”), from Latin aedificare (“build”).

Meanings

  1. (archaic) To build, construct.
    • That Castle was most goodly edifyde, / And plaste for pleasure nigh that forrest syde […] 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
  2. (transitive) To instruct or improve morally or intellectually.
    • That they ought to edify one another by maintaining and promoting the knowledge of truth. 1813, The Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, Vol. VI, page 455:
    • frustrate the best endeavours in the edifying of the church 1641, Francis Bacon, A Wise and Moderate Discourse, Concerning Church-Affaires:
    • January 23, 1783, Edward Gibbon, letter to Dr. Priestley It does not appear probable that our dispute [about miracles] would either edify or enlighten the public.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
edified Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
edified Tense=Past lexicographic
edifying Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
ædify alternative, obsolete lexicographic
edifies Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Deriveds

reedify · disedify

Relateds

edification · edifying · edifice · edifier · edificator

Translations (22)

th อบรม (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · hu oktat (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · sv uppbygga (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · hu tanít (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · ru назидать (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · bg поучавам (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · cs povznést (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · de erbauen (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · cs poučit (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · de edifizieren (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · pl podnosić na duchu (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · fr édifier (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · pl podnieść na duchu (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · bg назидавам (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · pl dodać otuchy (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · got 𐍄𐌹𐌼𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · cs povznášet (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · ru наставля́ть (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · th เทศนา (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · th อบรมบ่มนิสัย (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · pl dodawać otuchy (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually) · de bestärken (to instruct or improve morally or intellectually)