catechize
verb
- question systematically
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈkætɪˌkaɪz/ / /ˈkatɪˌkaɪz/
verb
Etymology: Derived from Latin catēchizāre, from Ancient Greek κατηχίζω (katēkhízō), from κατηχέω (katēkhéō, “to teach (orally)”), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἠχέω (ēkhéō, “to sound, to resound”).
- To give oral instruction, especially of religion; (specifically) by the formal question-and-answer method; in the Church of England and Roman Catholic Church, to teach the catechism as preparation for confirmation.
- To question at length.
“She promised herself to ascertain thoroughly, after they should be comfortably settled in the ship, the animus with which the book was to be written. She was a very good sailor and she liked to talk at sea; there her husband would not be able to escape from her, and she foresaw the manner in which she should catechise him.”
“Putting a strong American inflection into the French which I usually talked with an unmistakable British accent, I catechised the Baron as to the date of the church's building, its dimensions, and other details which an American tourist would be certain to want to know.”