Standard Lemma guide

preachy

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈpɹit͡ʃi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: preachee
  • CMU ARPABET: P R IY1 CH IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Tending toward excessive moralization.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • My old fussbudget aunt had a very preachy manner and would prattle on about the dangers of alcohol and other vices.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

inclined to or marked by tedious moralization

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English preach Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English preachy From preach + -y.