Preaching to the Choir Is Persuading the Persuaded
To preach is to deliver a sermon. The idiom about the choir describes arguing to people who already agree.
To preach is to deliver a religious address, or to advocate insistently. *Preaching to the choir* — or in British usage *to the converted* — captures a common failure of persuasion: addressing an audience that already agrees. The Latin root is *praedicare*, to proclaim publicly, which also gives *predicament* and the grammatical *predicate*.
- To deliver a sermon. *Preach on Sunday.*
- To advocate insistently. *Preaching restraint.*
- Preacher — one who preaches. *A travelling preacher.*
- Preach to the converted — persuade the persuaded. *Preaching to the converted.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | preach | Preach a sermon. |
| Past | preached | He preached. |
| Person | preacher | A lay preacher. |
| Noun | preaching | Constant preaching. |
| Adjective | preachy | A preachy tone. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Preaching to the converted.British form of the idiom.
- Practise what you preach.Act as you advise.
- Predicament comes from the same root.Latin *praedicare*.
Words from *praedicare*
- Preach — to proclaim publicly
- Predicate — what is asserted about a subject
- Predicament — originally a category asserted, later a difficulty
- Predict — to say beforehand, from a related verb
- Dictate — from *dicere*, to say, the underlying verb
From Old French *prechier*, from Latin *praedicare*, to proclaim, from *prae*, before, and *dicare*, to declare.
Choir or converted?
Preaching to the choir is American; preaching to the converted is British. Both mean persuading those who already agree.
Are preach and predicament related?
Yes. Both come from Latin *praedicare*. Predicament originally meant a category asserted about something.