Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To teach the principles of Christian dogma, discipline, and ethics by means of questions and answers.
- v. To question or examine closely or methodically: "Boswell was eternally catechizing him on all kinds of subjects” ( Thomas Macaulay).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To instruct orally by asking questions, receiving answers, and offering explanations and corrections; specifically, so to instruct on points of Christian doctrine.
- To question; interrogate, especially in a minute or impertinent manner; examine or try by questions.
- Also spelled catechise.
- n. A catechism.
Wiktionary
- v. To give religious instruction, often by the question-and-answer method, especially children or adolescents who are preparing for confirmation.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. See catechise.
WordNet 3.0
- v. examine through questioning and answering
- v. give religious instructions to
Etymologies
- Middle English catecizen, from Old French catechiser, from Medieval Latin catēchizāre, from Late Greek katēkhizein, from Greek katēkhein : kata-, down, off, out; see cata- + ēkhein, to sound (from ēkhē, sound).
Examples
“It was a sad spectacle of the 19th century that some missionaries carrying crosses also felt compelled to catechize foreigners in European cultural distinctives.”
The Huffington Post: Ben Stevens: Is Anders Breivik A European Fundamentalist?
“Have you created resources to catechize the faithful?”
“I received training in this method to catechize children aged 3-6 some years ago, and although I haven't taught in an Atrium in years, knowing the method continues to illuminate my thinking in this area.”
“As the wife of an elite male householder, a widow, or (like Mary and Elizabeth) an heiress, elite women were expected to exercise authority over all servants, to dispense patronage (even if this meant little more than influencing their husbands), and catechize the children of the household "family.”
“For the rest of her life, Brise did just that, trudging across the untamed frontier to catechize children, build a school and found an order of Franciscan sisters.”
The Huffington Post: How The Catholic Church Endorses (Or Ignores) Mystical Visions
“The focus now must be to teach -- to catechize/evangelize, I suppose -- why killing little humans is morally wrong.”
“Hopefully when we do we'll be focused on an authentic agiornamiento that will revitalize the Church's mission to evangelize non-Catholics and re-catechize/catechize nominal ones.”
“When the Spaniards began to colonize and catechize Mexico, they attempted to eradicate the pagan religion of the native Indians.”
“Prothero believes that before graduation from high school, every American should take a Bible course and a world-religions course — dispassionate humanities courses whose purpose is not to catechize or evangelize but to educate.”
“In trying to catechize my children, one of the difficulties is explaining "reason".”
Lists
‘catechize’ hasn't been added to any lists yet.
minerva Here follows a copy of her letter: Thou wilt see by it, that every little monkey is to catechize me.
Lovelace to Belford, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson Dec 14, 2007