1
as in sermon
a public speech usually by a member of the clergy for the purpose of giving moral guidance or uplift
last Sunday's homily was about being kind to your neighbors
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2
as in cliche
an idea or expression that has been used by many people
a TV movie filled with the usual hokey homilies about people triumphing over life's adversities
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Recent Examples of homily
Readings will be offered by Jason Carter and Joshua Carter, another grandson, and Andrew Young, the civil rights leader who served as Mr. Carter’s ambassador to the U.N., will deliver a homily.
—
Peter Baker, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2025
His discipline quickly reasserted itself, and with it his store of homilies.
—Peter Goldman, Newsweek, 29 Dec. 2024
When lodging is granted, festivities ensue with prayers, scripture readings and a brief homily about Jesus’ birth.
—Kamren Curiel, Los Angeles Times, 4 Dec. 2024
Of course there is, although thankfully there’s not too much heavy-handedness to the script’s inherent homilies about fake news and American authoritarianism not just being a byproduct of the 1930s.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 16 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for homily
Peter Baker, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2025
His discipline quickly reasserted itself, and with it his store of homilies.
—Peter Goldman, Newsweek, 29 Dec. 2024
When lodging is granted, festivities ensue with prayers, scripture readings and a brief homily about Jesus’ birth.
—Kamren Curiel, Los Angeles Times, 4 Dec. 2024
Of course there is, although thankfully there’s not too much heavy-handedness to the script’s inherent homilies about fake news and American authoritarianism not just being a byproduct of the 1930s.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 16 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for homily
Recent Examples of Synonyms for homily
Noun
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Leave it to Tom Rothman to tee up CinemaCon, ever the philosopher, with the ultimate sermon that waves the flag for moviegoing.—
Nancy Tartaglione,
Deadline,
31 Mar. 2025
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One specific date must be the same for all the Muslim's roughly two-billion population: the Day of Arafah, when millions of pilgrims gather in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to commemorate the final sermon of Prophet Muhammad.—
Ron Estes,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Mar. 2025
Noun
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During his two-minute tribute, Dr. Robby — who’s suffering from acute existential exhaustion on top of the day’s extra-fine grind — falls back on a handful of cliches.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
11 Apr. 2025
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The song, the first disco hit and an indelible gay anthem, here feels like a pandering cliche.—
Christian Lewis,
Variety,
28 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Wednesday's bizarre, inexact, and amorphous Rose Garden rally was a series of endless platitudes.—
Jason D. Greenblatt,
MSNBC Newsweek,
2 Apr. 2025
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The Portuguese novelist José Saramago is a master of such ironies, in which a narrator’s bland clichés and platitudes hang in the air, neither quite owned nor quite disavowed, waiting to be ironized by the action of the novel.—
James Wood,
New Yorker,
7 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The two-dimensional characters communicate in bromides; Lena’s fellow privates, who suffer from the laziest defining characteristics (coarse Southern gal, proper preacher’s daughter, New Yorker), are the worst offenders.—
Vikram Murthi,
IndieWire,
6 Dec. 2024
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In place of triumph-of-the-human-spirit bromides, though, what the book delivers is its own kind of cinema, harsh and true.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
8 July 2024
Noun
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Yesterday’s pangrams were attainability, banality and inability.—
Benjamin Mueller,
New York Times,
25 Feb. 2025
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The scene that follows—an intense grief followed by a quick return to the dull and depraved routine of trying to score their next hit—captures both the extremism and the banality of addiction and homelessness.—
Jay Caspian Kang,
The New Yorker,
21 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Read more The pathetic, slow-motion downfall of Barack Obama Houseguests and fish begin to smell after three days, as the saying goes.—
Aris Folley,
The Hill,
17 Apr. 2025
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As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.—
Fernanda Galan,
Sacbee.com,
16 Apr. 2025
Noun
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There’s a truism that outdoor dining was the one most visible silver lining of COVID’s disastrous impact on the city, and that seems plainly so.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
16 Apr. 2025
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This isn’t a Giants-specific truism, so the early returns can be meaningful, even in a small sample.—
Grant Brisbee,
New York Times,
3 Apr. 2025
Noun
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But Bluey’s comforted when Calypso tells her a proverb about a farmer who trusts everything will turn out the way it’s meant to be.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
26 Mar. 2025
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Whitaker nicknamed the place Sparrow Hall, a reference to a medieval saint’s proverb about a sparrow who flies over a royal banquet, feeling only a brief moment of warmth.—
Adriane Quinlan,
Curbed,
17 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Homily.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/homily. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
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