Skip to content

predicare

to preach

verb preh-dee-KAH-reh Rare

Origin: From Latin praedicare, 'to proclaim publicly'.

Also means

to advocate, to proclaim

Usage Note

Predicare takes avere as its auxiliary. The Italian idiom predicare bene e razzolare male — literally 'to preach well and scratch around badly' — is the equivalent of 'to practise what you preach' (or rather its violation). It is used for religious sermons and figuratively for moralising speeches.

Examples

"Il prete predicava davanti a una grande folla."

Natural Translation

The priest was preaching before a large crowd.

Explore Italian by topic