DEVOTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does devotion mean? 

• DEVOTION (noun)
  The noun DEVOTION has 4 senses:

1. feelings of ardent love

2. commitment to some purpose

3. religious zeal; the willingness to serve God

4. (usually plural) religious observance or prayers (usually spoken silently)

  Familiarity information: DEVOTION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEVOTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Feelings of ardent love

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

devotedness; devotion

Context example:

their devotion to each other was beautiful

Hypernyms ("devotion" is a kind of...):

love (a strong positive emotion of regard and affection)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Commitment to some purpose

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the devotion of his time and wealth to science

Hypernyms ("devotion" is a kind of...):

allegiance; commitment; dedication; loyalty (the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "devotion"):

cultism (devotion to the doctrine or a cult or to the practices of a cult)

hobbyism (a devotion to hobbies)

fetich; fetish (excessive or irrational devotion to some activity)

party spirit (devotion to a political party)

Derivation:

devote (give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Religious zeal; the willingness to serve God

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

cultism; devotion; veneration

Hypernyms ("devotion" is a kind of...):

worship (the activity of worshipping)

Derivation:

devote (give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(usually plural) religious observance or prayers (usually spoken silently)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

he returned to his devotions

Hypernyms ("devotion" is a kind of...):

prayer; supplication (the act of communicating with a deity (especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving))

Domain usage:

plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "devotion"):

bhakti ((Hinduism) loving devotion to a deity leading to salvation and nirvana; open to all persons independent of caste or sex)

novena (a Roman Catholic devotion consisting of prayers on nine consecutive days)

Stations; Stations of the Cross ((Roman Catholic Church) a devotion consisting of fourteen prayers said before a series of fourteen pictures or carvings representing successive incidents during Jesus' passage from Pilate's house to his crucifixion at Calvary)

 Context examples 

I'm going into business with a devotion that shall delight Grandfather, and prove to him that I'm not spoiled.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

We have self-devotion in a cause, and an end to achieve which is not a selfish one.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

And Mrs. Gummidge took his hand, and kissed it with a homely pathos and affection, in a homely rapture of devotion and gratitude, that he well deserved.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Faithfulness and devotion, things born of fire and roof, were his; yet he retained his wildness and wiliness.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Since landing from the boat he has obtained some consolation from the beauty and variety of the insect and bird life around him, for he is absolutely whole-hearted in his devotion to science.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You will have a sweet little wife; all gratitude and devotion.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I turned my face away to conceal a smile I could not suppress: there was something ludicrous as well as painful in the little Parisienne's earnest and innate devotion to matters of dress.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He had, he said, but gone for a while that I might be the freer for my devotions.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

On the whole, he thinks that Barclay’s devotion to his wife was greater than his wife’s to Barclay.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A man does not recover from such a devotion of the heart to such a woman.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)