homily
noun
[ ˈhɒmɪli ]
• a religious discourse which is intended primarily for spiritual edification rather than doctrinal instruction.
Similar:
sermon,
lecture,
discourse,
address,
lesson,
talk,
speech,
oration,
declamation,
preaching,
teaching,
spiel,
peroration,
allocution,
postil,
Origin:
late Middle English: via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin homilia, from Greek, ‘discourse, conversation’ (in ecclesiastical use, ‘sermon’), from homilos ‘crowd’.
