Edify

edify
    v 1: make understand; "Can you enlighten me--I don't understand
         this proposal" [syn: {enlighten}, {edify}]
    

Edify \Ed"i*fy\, v. i.
   To improve. [R.] --Swift.
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Edify \Ed"i*fy\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Edified}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Edifying}.] [F. ['e]difier, L. aedificare; aedes a building,
   house, orig., a fireplace (akin to Gr. ? to burn, Skr. idh to
   kindle, OHG. eit funeral pile, AS. [=a]d, OIr. aed fire) +
   facere to make. See {Fact}, {-fy}.]
   1. To build; to construct. [Archaic]
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            There was a holy chapel edified.      --Spenser.
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   2. To instruct and improve, especially in moral and religious
      knowledge; to teach.
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            It does not appear probable that our dispute [about
            miracles] would either edify or enlighten the
            public.                               --Gibbon.
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   3. To teach or persuade. [Obs.] --Bacon.
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61 Moby Thesaurus words for "edify":
      acculturate, advance, ameliorate, amend, better, boost,
      bring forward, broaden the mind, catechize, civilize, demonstrate,
      direct, educate, elevate, elucidate, emend, enhance, enlighten,
      enrich, fatten, favor, forward, foster, give instruction,
      give lessons in, go straight, ground, guide, illume, illumine,
      improve, improve upon, inform, instruct, irradiate, lard, lift,
      make an improvement, meliorate, mend, nurture, open the eyes,
      promote, raise, reeducate, refine upon, reform, school, set right,
      sharpen the wits, show, show how, socialize, straighten out, teach,
      teach a lesson, teach the rudiments, transfigure, transform,
      upgrade, uplift