EDIFY

enlighten, edify

(verb) make understand; “Can you enlighten me--I don’t understand this proposal”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

edify (third-person singular simple present edifies, present participle edifying, simple past and past participle edified)

(now rare) To build, construct.

(transitive) To instruct or improve morally or intellectually.

Anagrams

• deify

Source: Wiktionary


Ed"i*fy, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Edified; p. pr. & vb. n. Edifying.] Etym: [F. édifier, L. aedificare; aedes a building, house, orig., a fireplace (akin to Gr. idh to kindle, OHG. eit funeral pile, AS. ad, OIr. aed fire) + facere to make. See Fact, -fy.]

1. To build; to construct. [Archaic] There was a holy chapel edified. Spenser.

2. To instruct and improve, especially in moral and religious knowledge; to teach. It does not appear probable that our dispute [about miracles] would either edify or enlighten the public. Gibbon.

3. To teach or persuade. [Obs.] Bacon.

Ed"i*fy, v. i.

Definition: To improve. [R.] Swift.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

6 May 2025

HEEDLESS

(adjective) marked by or paying little heed or attention; “We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics”--Franklin D. Roosevelt; “heedless of danger”; “heedless of the child’s crying”


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