English Explanatory Dictionary

pray

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To direct words, thoughts, or one's attention to a deity or any higher being, for the sake of adoration, thanks, petition for help, etc.
  2. To humbly beg a person for aid or their time.
  3. To ask earnestly for; to seek to obtain by supplication; to entreat for.
  4. To wish or hope strongly for a particular outcome.
  5. To implore, to entreat, to request.
adv
  1. Please; used to make a polite request
  2. Alternative form of pray tell (“I ask you”).
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

prā /pɹeɪ/ en-us-pray.ogg

Word forms

pray prays praying prayed

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- Proto-Italic *preks Latin prex Latin precārī Late Latin precāre Old French proiier Anglo-Norman preierbor. Middle English preien English pray Inherited from Middle English preien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman preier, from Old French proiier, from Late Latin precāre, from Latin precārī, from prex (“request, petition, prayer”), from Proto-Italic *preks, from Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- (“to request, ask”). Displaced native Old English gebiddan. Cognate via Indo-European of Old English frignan, fricgan, German fragen, Dutch vragen. Compare deprecate, imprecate, precarious.

Related words

precarious

Derived words

nonpraying outpray plug and pray prayable prayee prayer prayful pray in aid praying Indian prayingly praying machine praying mantid praying mantis praying shawl pray tell pray the gay away pray to the porcelain god pray to the porcelain goddess prithee spray and pray unpray unprayed unpraying
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