EDIFY
What does "EDIFY" mean?
To instruct or improve someone morally or intellectually.
Meanings
- To build up a person's mind or character through instruction; to enlighten. The lecture was meant to edify, but it mostly bored. formal
Did you know?
- 'Edify' is construction work for the soul: it shares the Latin root 'aedificare' (to build) with 'edifice', so to edify someone is literally to build them up.
Word origin
From Latin 'aedificare' (to build, construct), from 'aedes' (dwelling, temple) plus 'facere' (to make); the literal sense of building a house became the moral sense of building a soul.
Remember it
EDIFY = an EDIFICE for the mind: you build (Latin aedificare) someone a better self.
A little poem
Stack one true thing on another,
and the listener leaves
a story taller than they came.
tercet
Wordplay
- The contractor said his lectures edify people. Naturally - he's always building them up.
What it teaches
To edify is to build, not to decorate; lay one honest brick before you reach for the gilt.
Quick facts
What does EDIFY mean?
To instruct or improve someone morally or intellectually.
Is EDIFY a valid word?
Yes — EDIFY is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is EDIFY?
EDIFY has 5 letters and 3 syllables.
Where does EDIFY come from?
From Latin 'aedificare' (to build, construct), from 'aedes' (dwelling, temple) plus 'facere' (to make); the literal sense of building a house became the moral sense of building a soul.
What can EDIFY teach us?
To edify is to build, not to decorate; lay one honest brick before you reach for the gilt.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.