EDIFY (edified)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: edified   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does edify mean? 

• EDIFY (verb)
  The verb EDIFY has 1 sense:

1. make understand

  Familiarity information: EDIFY used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EDIFY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they edify    ... he / she / it edifies   
Past simple: edified   
Past participle: edified   
-ing form: edifying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make understand

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

edify; enlighten

Context example:

Can you enlighten me--I don't understand this proposal

Hypernyms (to "edify" is one way to...):

instruct; learn; teach (impart skills or knowledge to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to edify Sue

Derivation:

edification (uplifting enlightenment)

 Context examples 

It was but a passing emotion however with Mrs Smith; she shook it off, and soon added in a different tone—I do not suppose the situation my friend Mrs Rooke is in at present, will furnish much either to interest or edify me.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I was chiefly edified, I am afraid, by the pictures, which were numerous, and represented all kinds of dismal horrors; but the Martyrs and Peggotty's house have been inseparable in my mind ever since, and are now.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)