REVERENCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does reverence mean? 

• REVERENCE (noun)
  The noun REVERENCE has 3 senses:

1. a feeling of profound respect for someone or something

2. a reverent mental attitude

3. an act showing respect (especially a bow or curtsy)

  Familiarity information: REVERENCE used as a noun is uncommon.

• REVERENCE (verb)
  The verb REVERENCE has 1 sense:

1. regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of

  Familiarity information: REVERENCE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REVERENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A feeling of profound respect for someone or something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

awe; fear; reverence; veneration

Context example:

his respect for the law bordered on veneration

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

emotion (any strong feeling)

Derivation:

revere; reverence (regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of)

reverent (showing great reverence for god)

reverential (feeling or manifesting veneration)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A reverent mental attitude

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

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

attitude; mental attitude (a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways)

Antonym:

irreverence (an irreverent mental attitude)

Derivation:

revere (love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol)

reverence (regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of)

reverent (feeling or showing profound respect or veneration)

reverential (feeling or manifesting veneration)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An act showing respect (especially a bow or curtsy)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

action (something done (usually as opposed to something said))

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

bow; bowing; obeisance (bending the head or body or knee as a sign of reverence or submission or shame or greeting)

curtsey; curtsy (bending the knees; a gesture of respect made by women)

• REVERENCE (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

fear; revere; reverence; venerate

Context example:

We venerate genius

Hypernyms (to "reverence" is one way to...):

esteem; prise; prize; respect; value (regard highly; think much of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reverence"):

enshrine; saint (hold sacred)

worship (show devotion to (a deity))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

reverence (a reverent mental attitude)

reverence (a feeling of profound respect for someone or something)

 Context examples 

He was astonished at this and called out: Hi! your reverence, whither away so quickly?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Heavens! don't bite it! Cut—and cut with reverence!

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“And did you slay him also, my lord?” asked Ford with reverence.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My mother had taught me to regard him with reverence, as one of those whom God had placed to rule over us; but my uncle smiled when I told him of her teaching.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have talked, face to face, with what I reverence, with what I delight in,—with an original, a vigorous, an expanded mind.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“And none so poor, not even Hump, to do him reverence,” he sneered.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Oh, Madam Mina, he said, dear, dear Madam Mina, alas! that I of all who so reverence you should have said anything so forgetful.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

His reverence is our own homemade article.

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

The silver hair and benevolent countenance of the aged cottager won my reverence, while the gentle manners of the girl enticed my love.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Everything seemed, to my imagination, to be hushed in reverence for him, as he resumed his solitary journey through the snow.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)