edification

See also: édification

English

Alternative forms

• ædification (archaic)

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin aedificationem (“building, construction”), an accusative form of aedificatio, from aedificare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɛdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

edification (countable and uncountable, plural edifications)

1. The act of edifying, or the state of being edified or improved; a building process, especially morally, emotionally, or spiritually.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 15:2:

     Let euery one of vs please his neighbour for his good to edification.

   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 219:

     Caterina Pachetti had been a very pretty women, which she remembered more to her own edification than to that of her friends.

   • 2018 March 14, Roger Penrose, “'Mind over matter': Stephen Hawking – obituary by Roger Penrose”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 September 2022:

     It seems clear that he took great delight in his commonly perceived role as “the No 1 celebrity scientist”; huge audiences would attend his public lectures, perhaps not always just for scientific edification.

2. (archaic) A building or edifice.

Derived terms

• disedification

Related terms

• edificant
• edificator
• edificatory
• edifice
• edificial
• edifier
• edify
• edifyingly
• edifyingness

Translations

the act of edifying, or the state of being edified

Arabic: تَنْوِير m (tanwīr) Bashkir: нәсихәт (nəsixət) Bulgarian: назидание (bg) n (nazidanie) Czech: osvěta (cs) f Finnish: mielenylennys French: édification (fr) f German: Erbauung (de) f Gothic: 𐍄𐌹𐌼𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 f (timreins) Portuguese: edificação (pt) f Romanian: edificare (ro) f Spanish: please add this translation if you can Swedish: uppbyggelse (sv), upplysning (sv)

building

Dutch: gebouw (nl) Finnish: rakennus (fi) French: édification (fr) f German: Gebäude (de) n, Bauwerk (de) n

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “edification”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• deification