edify means to build, construct. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 84 out of 100.
edify is pronounced /ˈɛdɪfaɪ/.
Why “edify” is a great word
EDIFY — [Verb] To instruct or improve someone morally or intellectually. From Old French edifier ("to build, to edify"), from Latin aedificare ("to build"), from aedes ("house, temple") and facere ("to make, do"). Unlike 'enlighten,' which suggests a sudden flood of light dispelling ignorance, or 'indoctrinate,' which implies the uncritical installation of a doctrine, to edify is to construct, brick by patient brick. It is the schoolmaster's patient clarification, the small act of integrity observed by a child, and the cumulative weight of a library read across a lifetime. This is the quiet labor of constructing a soul worth inhabiting, stone by thoughtful stone.
Etymology
From Old French edifier (“to build, to edify”), from Latin aedificare (“build”).
verb
- To build, construct.“That Castle was most goodly edifyde, / And plaste for pleasure nigh that forrest syde […]”
- To instruct or improve morally or intellectually.“frustrate the best endeavours in the edifying of the church”