sermon

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman sermun, Old French sermon, from Latin sermō.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːmən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝmən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)mən

Noun

sermon (plural sermons)

1. Religious discourse; a written or spoken address on a religious or moral matter.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 3, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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 with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.

2. A lengthy speech of reproval.

Verb

sermon (third-person singular simple present sermons, present participle sermoning, simple past and past participle sermoned)

1. (poetic, obsolete) To discourse to or of, as in a sermon.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

2. (poetic, obsolete) To tutor; to lecture.
   • 1607, William Shakespeare, The Life of Timon of Athens, II. ii. 177:

     Come, sermon me no further.

Anagrams

• Menors, Merson, merons, moners, mornes, somner

Etymology

Latin sermō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛʁ.mɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

sermon m (plural sermons)

1. sermon (religious speech)
2. sermon (lengthy reproval)

Further reading

• “sermon” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• mornes, normes

Alternative forms

• sermoun (Anglo-Norman)
• sermun (Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sermō.

Noun

sermon m (oblique plural sermons, nominative singular sermons, nominative plural sermon)

1. sermon (religious)

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (sermon, supplement)
• sermun on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub