preach to the choir

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

to persuade people who already agree

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Thuyết phục những người đã đồng ý

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: teach religious doctrine to church members
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The politician was preaching to the choir with her speech on environmental issues

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “preach to the choir” mean?

to persuade people who already agree Literally: teach religious doctrine to church members

Is “preach to the choir” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.