Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Sermon |
SermonNoun1. An address of a religious nature (usually delivered during a church service). 2. A moralistic rebuke; "your preaching is wasted on him". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "sermon" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A sermon is an oration, usually given by a member of the clergy, that preaches and teaches Christianity. Sermons are usually, but not always, delivered in a church. Most churches have a pulpit or an ambo, an elevated architectural feature from which sermons are given. Sermons are occasionally known as homilies, especially in Roman Catholicism and similar traditions.Perhaps the most famous sermon in history was the Sermon on the Mount given by Jesus Christ. Throughout the history of Christianity there have been preachers noted for their sermons. Some of these include:
Many sermons have been written down, collected and published. Such sermons include John Wesley's 53 Standard Sermons, John Chrysostom's Homily on the Resurrection (preached every Easter in Orthodox churches) and Gregory Nazianzus' homily "On the Theophany, or Birthday of Christ" (preached every Christmas in Orthodox churches), and "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards.
- St Stephen
- Tertullian
- St John Chrysostom
- St Gregory Nazianzus
- St Dominic
- St Francis of Assisi
- Lancelot Andrewes
- John Donne
- Jeremy Taylor
- Jacques-Benigne Bossuet
- John Wesley
- Jonathan Edwards
- Charles Spurgeon
- Billy Sunday
- Aimee Semple McPherson
- Billy Graham
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Sermon."
Synonyms: SermonSynonyms: discourse (n), preaching (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Dissertation | Noun: dissertation, treatise, essay; thesis, theme; monograph, tract, tractate, tractation; discourse, memoir, disquisition, lecture, sermon, homily, pandect; excursus. |
Interment | Funeral, funeral rite, funeral solemnity; kneel, passing bell, tolling; dirge. (lamentation); cypress; orbit, dead march, muffled drum; mortuary, undertaker, mute; elegy; funeral, funeral oration, funeral sermon; epitaph. |
Rite | Ministration; preaching, preachment; predication, sermon, homily, lecture, discourse, pastoral. |
Speech | Oration, recitation, delivery, say, speech, lecture, harangue, sermon, tirade, formal speech, peroration; speechifying; soliloquy; allocution; conversation; salutatory : screed: valedictory. |
Teaching | Expound; (interpret); lecture; read a lesson, give a lesson, give a lecture, give a sermon, give a discourse; incept; hold forth, preach; sermonize, moralize; point a moral. |
Explanation; (interpretation); lesson, lecture, sermon; apologue, parable; discourse, prolection, preachment; chalk talk; Chautauqua. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Sermon |
| English words defined with "sermon": baccalaureate, Baccalaureate sermon, beatitude, Bidding prayer ♦ Centurial ♦ golden rule, Gospel According to Matthew ♦ homiletic, homiletical, homily ♦ Lord's Prayer ♦ Matthew, moralise, moralize ♦ Pericope, preach, preachify, preachment, prophesy ♦ Sermonet, Sermonical, sermonise, Sermonish, sermonize ♦ text. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "sermon": Action Sermon, Adjective or Adverb ♦ Bangorian Controversy ♦ Clergyman ♦ Fiddle About, Flower Sermon, Friar Tuck ♦ Guineapig ♦ Lion Sermon ♦ Mount of beatitudes ♦ Peerage of the Apostles, PIE ♦ reliquary, righteousness ♦ Sermon Lane. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "sermon": Sermocination. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Sermon" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. French (harangue, jaw, preaching, sermon, talk), German (harangue, homily, lecture, pitch, sermon, spiel). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | And the best he ever managed was a Sermon on the Mount (Tomorrow Never Dies; writing credit: Bruce Feirstein) I already got a sermon from Steve (Never Among Friends; writing credit: Jason M. Allentoff; Roger Troy Schneider) Mr. Witt! When I have the impertinence to climb into your pulpit to deliver a sermon, then you can tell me my duty (Zulu; writing credit: John Prebble and Cy Endfield.) | |
Clever | Few sinners are saved after the first twenty minutes of a sermon. (references; author: Mark Twain) A good example is the best sermon. (references; author: unknown) You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips. (references; author: unknown) Overheard during a particular long sermon, "If we give him the money now, Mommy, will he let us go? (references; author: unknown) At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Broncho Billy's Sermon (1914) The Two Gun Sermon (1912) Sermon from St Albion's (1998) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | A sermon at Rheims. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | I said parson's sermon sure did knock hell outa th' Home Brew Bunch!. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | A sermon without words. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Marks, Miss.: Martin Luther King preaches funeral sermon for freedom marcher, Armstead Phipps, Marks, Miss., who died of a heart attack while marching with the Mississippi freedom marchers. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Evangelist preaching sermon. Pentecostal church, Cambria, Illinois. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Washington, D.C. Reverend Vondell Gassaway, pastor of the St. Martin's Spiritual Church, preaching the Sunday sermon. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Sermon time" by Simon Cataudo Commentary: "View from the pulpit. Taken 13 September 2003." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Author | Quotation |
George Herbert | A verse may find him who a sermon flies. |
J.g. Holland | Character must stand behind and back up everything -- the sermon, the poem, the picture, the play. None of them is worth a straw without it. |
Oliver Goldsmith | You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips. |
Samuel Pepys | A good honest and painful sermon. |
Schaff | Architecture is a handmaid of devotion. A beautiful church is a sermon in stone and its spire a finger pointing to heaven. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | Such was the position which the minister occupied, as he bowed his head forward on the cushions of the pulpit, at the close of his Election Sermon. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The subject of his sermon was charity, and he treated it very eloquently |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Civil Liberties | Burma | There was an unconfirmed report from the Democratic Voice of Burma that on August 1, military security personnel arrested a monk for delivering a sermon criticizing the economic and political conditions in the country at a ceremony at the Mahamyatmunni Payagyi Pagoda in Mandalay. (references) |
Belarus | In February 2000, SCRNA authorities warned a Belarusian pastor of a Pentecostal church that a citizen of Ukraine had delivered a public sermon in his church in violation of the law on religion and that a future violation of the law would lead to a revocation of his church's registration. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | PIE, n. An advance agent of the reaper whose name is Indigestion. Cold pie was highly esteemed by the remains. Rev. Dr. Mucker (in a funeral sermon over a British nobleman) Cold pie is a detestable American comestible. That's why I'm done -- or undone -- So far from that dear London. (from the headstone of a British nobleman in Kalamazoo) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Sermon" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.74% of the time. "Sermon" is used about 388 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.74% | 387 | 14,277 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.26% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 388 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "sermon" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Sermon | Last name | 130 | 68,000 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "sermon": baccalaureate sermon ♦ funeral sermon ♦ give a sermon ♦ penitential sermon ♦ preach a sermon ♦ say sermon ♦ sermon on the Mount. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "sermon": sermon-tasting. | |
Ending with "sermon": lecture-cum-sermon, pre-sermon. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
sermon | 2,439 | erick sermon | 83 |
father day sermon | 1,084 | sermon central.com | 72 |
sermon central | 908 | 21 chapter john sermon st | 69 |
sermon illustration | 567 | child day father sermon | 67 |
child sermon | 508 | sermon help | 56 |
sermon outline | 465 | audio audio hosting online real sermon | 48 |
free sermon | 198 | kid sermon | 48 |
funeral sermon | 176 | pentecostal sermon | 43 |
youth sermon | 151 | graduation sermon | 43 |
sermon on the mount | 136 | free sermon outline | 43 |
sermon online | 136 | lectionary sermon | 40 |
bible sermon | 134 | independence day sermon | 39 |
baptist sermon | 130 | 4th of july sermon | 36 |
wedding sermon | 104 | church sermon | 35 |
pentecost sermon | 98 | child free sermon | 35 |
church of christ sermon | 97 | free sermon illustration | 33 |
black sermon | 97 | sermon note | 33 |
audio sermon | 92 | sermon on father | 33 |
eric sermon | 91 | sermon on prayer | 32 |
sermon christian | 83 | expository sermon | 32 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "sermon"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | predikim (discourse, homily, preaching, preachment). (various references) | |
Arabic | موعظة في السلوك, موعظة, خطبة مملة, خطبة (address, betrothal, contract, declamation, fiancee, harangue, speech). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | слово (disquisition, speech, utterance, word), конско, лекция (discourse, lecture, prelection), проповед (exhortation, homily, jobation, preach, pulpit, rant, text), поучение (instruction, lecturing, lesson, precept). (various references) | |
Chinese | 布道. (various references) | |
Czech | kázání (dressing down, harangue, homily, jaw, lecture, predication). (various references) | |
Dutch | sermoen, preek, kanselrede. (various references) | |
Esperanto | prediko. (various references) | |
Farsi | موعظه کردن (Preach), موعظه , گفتار (Article, Speech, Word), وعظ, وابسته بموعظه , خطابه (Address, Lecture, Oration, Precept, Prelection), خطبه , اندرز (Advice, Axiom, Counsel, Motto). (various references) | |
Finnish | saarna (lecture, message), nuhdesaarna (lecture). (various references) | |
French | sermon. (various references) | |
German | Predigt (harangue, homily, jaw, lecture, preaches, preaching, sermonizes). (various references) | |
Greek | κήρυγμα (homily, jaw, preaching). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מדרש (commentary, homily, midrash, study), חומר (compound, element, ingredient, material, matter, mortar, stuff, subject, substance), הטפת מוסר (moralism), דרוש (address, homily, lecture, needful, required, requisite, speech, thesis), דרשה (harangue, homily, oration). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szentbeszéd (homily, preching, predication). (various references) | |
Indonesian | riwayat (chronicle, history, tale), ceramah (causerie, discourse, extracurricular, talkative). (various references) | |
Italian | sermone, predica (homily, lecture, preaching, telling off). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 説法 (a lecture, moralizing, preaching), 説教 (preach, propound). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | せっきょう (lecture on the sutras, preach, propound, stone bridge), せっぽう (a lecture, moralizing, preaching). (various references) | |
Korean | 설교 (Preaching). (various references) | |
Manx | sharmane (homily). (various references) | |
Papiamen | predikashi. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ermonsay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | sermão (jaw, lecture), prédica. (various references) | |
Romanian | predicã (homily). (various references) | |
Russian | проповедь (exhortation, homily, preachment, rant). (various references) | |
Scottish | searmon (a sermon). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | propoved, pridika (lecture, preachment), beseda (allocution, oration). (various references) | |
Spanish | sermón (homily, lecture, preaching). (various references) | |
Swedish | predikan (homily, preachment). (various references) | |
Turkish | söylev (address, allocution, discourse, dissertation, harangue, oration, speech), vaiz (chaplain, clergyman, devil-dodger, minister, preacher, predicant, pulpit orator, pulpiteer), vaaz (homily), öğüt (a piece of advice, admonition, advice, counsel, recommendation, warning). (various references) | |
Turkmen | wagyz-nesihat (directions, instruction). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | нотація (homily, lecture, notation), проповідь (exhortation, homily, preach). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | lời quở mắng, bài thuyết pháp lời khiển trách, bài thuyết giáo (preachment), bài giảng đạo. (various references) | |
Welsh | pregeth (discourse). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | homilia. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "sermon": sermonette, sermonettes, sermonic, sermonize, sermonized, sermonizer, sermonizers, sermonizes, sermonizing, sermons. (additional references) | |
| |
"Sermon" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Esrom, Iserlohn, Osorkon, samon, Sarjo, Sarwono, saumon, Seamon, seimon, semont, Semyon, serion, serman, sermen, sermond, Sermonde, Sermoneta, Sernin, Seron, Serono, serton, sirmen, siron, Snemovna, Syremont, tremon. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "sermon" (pronounced ser"mun) |
| 4 | -er" m u n | Firman, determine, Ermine, german, predetermine. |
| 3 | -m u n | famine, ferryman, fireman, firemen, abdomen, acumen, adman, admen, airman, albumin, alderman, antihistamine, Ashman, assemblywoman, backgammon, backwoodsman, Badman, bagman, barman, baseman, bayman, bellman, Benjamin, bitumen, Boardman, boatman, bookman, Bowman, bowmen, brakeman, bushman, businesswoman, cameraman, Carman, Carmen, carmine, cattlemen, Cayman, chairman, chairwoman, Chapman, chessman, chrismon, churchman, churchmen, cinnamon, clergyman, coachman, cochairman, committeeman, common, congressman, congresswoman, corpsman, councilman, councilwoman, councilwomen, countryman, cowman, craftsman, craftsmen, crewman, daemon, dairymen, Daman, demon, desman, Dolman, draftsman, draftsmen, dromon, dustman, Dutchman, Everyman, examine, footman, foramen, foreman, foremen, forewoman, Freedman, Freeman, freshman, gammon, gentleman, gentlewoman, gentlewomen, Goodman, gunman, hangman, headman, headsman, henchman, henchmen, Herdman, Hetman, horseman, horsemen, houseman, human, huntsman, hymen, illumine, infantryman, inhuman, jasmine, Kirkman, Landman, landsman, lawman, layman, laymen, Leman, lemon, Letterman, Liman, Lineman, linemen, lobsterman, longshoremen, lumen, madmen, marksman, messman, midshipman, newswoman, newswomen, nobleman, noblewoman, nonhuman, nurserymen, oarsman, ombudsman, omen, ottoman, Outman, overman, Packman, Penman, pitchman, Pitman, Plowman, policeman, policewoman, postman, pressman, Pullman, ragmen, reexamine, regimen, rifleman, Rodman, roman, rumen, salarymen, salesman, saleswoman, saleswomen, salmon, seaman, seamen, seedsman, semen, shaman, Shipman, showman, Spearman, specimen, spokesman, spokeswoman, sportsman, statesman, Stillman, Stockman, subhuman, summon, superhuman, superwoman, talisman, Telamon, thiamin, timberman, Titman, Toman, townsman, tradesmen, trainmen, uncommon, vitamin, watchman, Waterman, watermen, wingman, wireman, woman, women, Woodman, woodsmen, Woolman, workman, yachtsman, yeoman. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-m-n-o-r-s" | |
-1 letter: enorm, meson, mores, morns, morse, nomes, norms, omens, omers, senor, snore. | |
-2 letters: eons, erns, eros, meno, mons, more, morn, mors, noes, nome, noms, norm, nose, omen, omer, ones, ores, rems, roes, roms, rose, some, sone, sore, sorn. | |
-3 letters: ems, ens, eon, ern, ers, men, mon, mor, mos, nom, nor, nos, oes, oms, one. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-m-n-o-r-s" | |
+1 letter: enamors, mentors, merinos, merlons, moaners, moderns, mongers, monster, moreens, morgens, oarsmen, rodsmen, sermons. | |
+2 letters: almoners, bromines, consumer, corpsmen, embrowns, embryons, emersion, enamours, enormous, ensiform, fermions, foramens, hormones, horseman, horsemen, incomers, ionomers, madrones, manropes, menorahs, mesotron, misenrol, misnomer, modernes, monerans, moneyers, mongrels, monikers, monomers, monsieur, monstera, monsters, monteros, moonrise, moorhens, moraines, mordents, mounters, mourners, mucrones, neuromas, newsroom, normless, numerous, onstream, overmans, promines, ransomed, ransomer, remounts, resummon, rhamnose, romaines, romances, romanise, sermonic, solemner, sonarmen, summoner, swordmen, syndrome, tonearms, torments, venomers, winsomer. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Fiction 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Names: Frequency 14. Expressions 15. Expressions: Internet 16. Translations: Modern | 17. Translations: Ancient 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
