The AI-powered English dictionary
third-person singular simple present edifies, present participle edifying, simple past and past participle edified
(now rare) To build, construct. quotations
That Castle was most goodly edifyde, / And plaste for pleasure nigh that forrest syde […]
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie
(transitive) To instruct or improve morally or intellectually. quotations examples
It does not appear probable that our dispute [about miracles] would either edify or enlighten the public.
January 23, 1783, Edward Gibbon, letter to Dr. Priestley
That they ought to edify one another by maintaining and promoting the knowledge of truth.
1813, The Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, Vol. VI, page 455
frustrate the best endeavours in the edifying of the church
1641, Francis Bacon, A Wise and Moderate Discourse, Concerning Church-Affaires