- Home
- Idioms
- preach
preach
preach to deaf ears
To present arguments to or attempt to persuade or advise those who have no inclination to change their opinion or belief. You're preaching to deaf ears if you think you can convince these kids to stay away from alcohol before they turn 21. Even though they know they're preaching to deaf ears, the hate group makes a point of holding protests outside churches and the funerals of slain soldiers.
Practice what you preach.
Prov. Cliché You yourself should do the things you advise other people to do. Dad always told us we should only watch an hour of television every day, but we all knew he didn't practice what he preached.
preach about something
to give a moral or stern discourse on something. Please don't preach about the evils of fried food. I like the stuff, and people eat it all the time and don't die! She was preaching about the value of a fat-free diet.
preach against someone or something
to exhort against someone or something. The evangelist preached against the operator of the town's only saloon. The principal kept preaching against drinking and drugs.
preach at someone
to lecture or moralize at someone. Don't preach at me! I don't need any of your moralizing. I really don't wish to be preached at.
preach to someone
to give a moral discourse to someone. Please don't preach to me. I know that I did wrong. When you preach to us like that, we don't pay any attention to you.
preach to the choir
and preach to the convertedFig. to make one's case primarily to one's supporters; to make one's case only to those people who are present or who are already friendly to the issues. There is no need to convince us of the value of hard work. We already know that. You are just preaching to the choir. Don't waste your time telling us about the problem. That's preaching to the choir. Bob found himself preaching to the converted when he was telling Jane the advantages of living in the suburbs. She already hates city life.
preach to the choir
to talk about something with a group of people who already agree with you preach to the converted I realized that all I was doing was preaching to the choir - the men who really need to hear about this don't come to these groups.
preach to the converted
to talk about something with a group of people who already agree with you preach to the choir Many websites seem to only preach to the converted, but others attract all sorts of people.
practice what you preach
to behave the way you tell other people to behave Other countries need to see that we practice what we preach when it comes to human rights. I practice what I preach in that I exercise almost every day.
practise what you preach
(British & Australian) also practice what you preach (American) to do what you advise other people to do I would have more respect for him if he practised what he preaches.
preach to the converted
to try to persuade people to believe things they already believe (usually in continuous tenses) There's no need to tell us about the benefits of recycling. You're preaching to the converted.
practice what you preach
Behave as you would have others behave, as in
You keep telling us to clean up, but I wish you'd practice what you preach. This idiom expresses an ancient idea but appeared in this precise form only in 1678. Also see
do as I say.
preach to the converted
Try to convince someone who is already convinced, as in Why tell me smoking is bad when I gave it up years ago? You're preaching to the converted. [Mid-1800s]
preach to the
choir/converted To argue in favor of a viewpoint already held by one's audience.