Make Your Point > Archived Issues > HOMILY

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

pronounce HOMILY: Say it "HOM uh lee." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: A homily is often a long, boring, detailed speech that tells people what to do.  And a j____iad is a long, boring, detailed speech that complains about something. Can you recall that word? Both of them have a biblical flavor. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) definition: The word "homily" traces back to a Greek word meaning "a conversation, or a formal talk."  In English, for hundreds of years, we've used "homily" to mean "a religious sermon: a long, formal speech that preaches to people and tells them what to do." We still use the word that way today. And we use a looser meaning: a homily is also a speech or piece of writing that tells people what to do--often in a long, boring way. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Noun, usually the countable kind: "The book is full of homilies;" "Please stop him from delivering another homily at dinner." Sometimes the uncountable kind: "this mix of heartbreak and homily" (the Guardian). Other forms:  Settle in. There's a lot! The plural is "homilies." A book of homilies is a homiliary ("huh MILL ee air ee"). Someone who preaches homilies is a homilist ("HOM ih list"), or, less commonly, a homilete ("HOM ih leet"). If you're preaching or sermonizing, you're homilizing. Something homiletic ("HOM ih LET ick"), or something homiletical ("HOM ih LET ick ull") reminds you of homilies. And homiletics are the practice of preaching. And more specifically, something homilistical ("HOM ih LIST ih kull") reminds you of a homilist (a person who preaches). how to use it: "Homily" is a formal, semi-common word with a tone that's either neutral or negative. You might talk literally about homilies delivered in church. Or, you might get figurative and refer to a certain speech, quote, post, song, show, film, poem, article, or book as a homily, meaning it strikes you as preachy or moralizing. You might talk about people offering or delivering a homily, sometimes a homily on or to a certain idea, topic, or principle. examples: "In one of his homilies Tillman insists, 'You will never be truly happy and fulfilled if you try to hang on to possessions.'"    — Glenn Kenny, quoting from Phillip Youmans's Burning Cane, New York Times, 24 October 2019 "From General Peckem's office on the mainland came prolix bulletins each day headed by such cheery homilies as 'Procrastination is the Thief of Time' and 'Cleanliness is Next to Godliness.'"   — Joseph Heller, Catch-22, 1961 has this page helped you understand "homily"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "homily" without saying "lecture" or "sermon." try it out: In the New York Times, Stephen Holden describes a song, "The Rose," as "easy to dismiss... as a greeting-card homily," but that to him, is "art: a miraculous burst of empathy that transcends clichés with its concentrated intensity of feeling as it searches for a definition of love." Following this example, talk about another song (or poem, book, or other creation) that could seem to one person like a boring, cheesy homily, but to another person could seem a wonderful, wise work of art. If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game this month is "Codenames MYP." You can play it with a partner or by yourself. It's loosely based on the fantastic game Codenames Duet.   Check out the words in the grid. Ignore the colors; they're just the ones I had on hand.  If you’re playing with a partner, pick any 2 or 3 terms from the grid, and give your partner a one-word clue to help them guess your terms--without stumbling onto any that you didn't pick. Your partner can do the same for you. No hints! Just say your clue word and the number of terms it should point toward. If you're playing solo, try to guess 2 terms in the grid by using this clue: "poking." To see these answers, scroll all the way down. If you need any definitions, give these a click:       goad, deluge, taproot,      diadem, railroad, keystone,      bedrock, bezel, muzzle. review this word: 1. A near opposite of a HOMILIST is A. a LUMINARY: someone who guides by example. B. a DOCENT: someone who guides informatively. C. a DRILL SERGEANT: someone who guides abrasively. 2. A writer for the New York Times described the concept for a U2 album as "a temptation to _____," and therefore that some of the songs on the album are "unabashed homilies." A. hope B. preach C. daydream Answers to review questions: 1. A 2. B Answers to the game question: With the clue "poking," I was trying to point you toward goad and taproot. a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.