catechize
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editDerived from Latin catechizare, from Ancient Greek κατηχίζω (katēkhízō), from κατηχέω (katēkhéō, “to teach (orally)”), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἠχέω (ēkhéō, “to sound, to resound”).
Pronunciation
edit- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkætɪkaɪz/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkatɪkaɪz/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation US: cat‧e‧chize, UK: cat‧ech‧ize
Verb
editcatechize (third-person singular simple present catechizes, present participle catechizing, simple past and past participle catechized) (transitive)
- To give oral instruction, especially of religion; (specifically) by the formal question-and-answer method; in the Church of England and Roman Catholic Church, to teach the catechism as preparation for confirmation.
- To question at length.
- 1888 September 29, Henry James, “[The Modern Warning.] Chapter V.”, in The Aspern Papers; Louisa Pallant; The Modern Warning, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 260:
- She promised herself to ascertain thoroughly, after they should be comfortably settled in the ship, the animus with which the book was to be written. She was a very good sailor and she liked to talk at sea; there her husband would not be able to escape from her, and she foresaw the manner in which she should catechise him.
- 1910, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “The Soul of Laploshka”, in Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 73:
- Putting a strong American inflection into the French which I usually talked with an unmistakable British accent, I catechised the Baron as to the date of the church's building, its dimensions, and other details which an American tourist would be certain to want to know.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editgive oral instruction, especially of religion
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question at length
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