sermon

What it means

1. Religious discourse; a written or spoken address on a religious or moral matter.

   1 more example

   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.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

2. A lengthy speech of reproval.

   Synonyms: browbeating, dressing down, lecture, berating, browbeating, chiding, chockling, correption

In a sentence

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.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*sermō
2. Latinsermō, sermōnem
3. Old Frenchsermon
4. Anglo-Normansermun
5. Middle Englishsermoun
6. Englishsermon

From Middle English sermoun, from Anglo-Norman sermun and/or Old French sermon, from Latin sermō, sermōnem, from Proto-Indo-European *sermō, from *ser- (“to bind”) + *-mō. Displaced native Old English wordpredicung, literally word + preaching.