as in sermonic
marked by or given to preaching moral values
I found the novel's moralizing tone a bit much for beach reading
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as in preaching
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Recent Examples of moralizing
Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
The host, Shaina Shealy, tells a complex, sometimes raw story, resisting easy moralizing about the lives of her subjects.
—Benjamin Cannon, The Atlantic, 23 Dec. 2025
Or the moralizing at the end of the show, when the audience, in sympathy with the Phantom, is asked to unmask.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2025
Unfortunately, the bulk of the requisite moralizing falls mainly to Palmer’s socially conscious Elena, saddled with one too many speeches about making a difference, which puts a damper on the actress’ customary energetic spark.
—Michael Rechtshaffen, HollywoodReporter, 7 Sep. 2025
Noun
But the framing of the piece skews moralizing and voyeuristic.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for moralizing
Noun
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If a team gets in the red zone five times and kicks five field goals, Singleton remembers Joseph preaching, what’s the score?—
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Officials in these countries say the Brotherhood uses a blend of religious preaching, political activism, charitable institutions and media platforms to shape public opinion and challenge state authority.—
Verb
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Christian author Philip Yancey is retiring from writing and lecturing after admitting to a long-running affair with a married woman.—
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After teaching at Sacramento City College and lecturing at UC Davis, Fisher moved into public history, working with the California Office of Historic Preservation and the Architectural History Department at Caltrans.—
Adjective
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To rebuild a consensus, politicians must thus appeal to these swing voters by eschewing moralistic and globalist rhetoric.—
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The sanitized relationships and moralistic comeuppances that characterize classic-Hollywood movies falsified private life in their own time and enduringly distort the past; a tale such as Crawford’s should dispel nostalgia for bygone days and the myth of their orderly decorum.—
Noun
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If all that is a little too cerebral, viewers can wait out the pontificating until the next performance comes along.—
Adjective
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Political without being didactic, the film taps into contemporary anxieties around immigration, power and resistance, delivering tension, spectacle and emotional weight in equal measure.—
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Marlin notes that children avoid more didactic books and prefer absorbing narratives.—
Noun
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In Queen Mother, Farmer takes a clear-eyed look at Moore’s foibles, noting her absenteeism during her son’s formative years, her embrace of patriarchal hierarchy in Black communities, and her exhortations for Black women to embrace polygyny to facilitate nation building.—
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His view toward law could be summarized in his indelicate three-word exhortation to his fellow prisoners at Nuremberg to show no remorse for crime and no respect for law.—
Adjective
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Thompson mentions that cartoons from this era often leaned on straightforward ideas about decency, and Doug fit that mold without being preachy about it.—
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Some of the book’s 48 essays are spiritual without being preachy, and others are secular snapshots of DiMucci’s life and reflections.—
Noun
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Engineers used a Deep Trench Isolation Center Cut design to improve pixel separation and reduce signal interference.—
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Byfield’s goal seven minutes later was unsuccessfully challenged for interference by Jets coach Scott Arniel.—
Cite this Entry
“Moralizing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/moralizing. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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