reverence
noun
a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.
reverence
American
[rev-er-uhns, rev-ruhns]
/ ˈrɛv ər əns, ˈrɛv rəns /
noun
-
reverences
plural
-
a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.
- Antonyms:
- contempt
-
the outward manifestation of this feeling.
to pay reverence.
-
a gesture indicative of deep respect; an obeisance, bow, or curtsy.
-
the state of being revered, or treated with respect tinged with awe.
-
(initial capital letter) a title used in addressing or mentioning a member of the clergy (usually preceded by your orhis ).
verb (used with object)
-
reverences,
present (3rd person singular)
-
reverenced,
past participle, past
-
reverencing
present participle
reverence
1
British
/ ˈrɛvərəns /
noun
-
a feeling or attitude of profound respect, usually reserved for the sacred or divine; devoted veneration
-
an outward manifestation of this feeling, esp a bow or act of obeisance
-
the state of being revered or commanding profound respect
-
archaic a form of apology for using an obscene or taboo expression
verb
Reverence
2
British
/ ˈrɛvərəns /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
reverencesimple
-
reverencessimple
-
have reverencedperfect
-
has reverencedperfect
-
am reverencingprogressive
-
are reverencingprogressive
-
is reverencingprogressive
-
have been reverencingperfect progressive
-
has been reverencingperfect progressive
Past
-
reverencedsimple
-
had reverencedperfect
-
was reverencingprogressive
-
were reverencingprogressive
-
had been reverencingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reverence
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Latin reverentia “respect, fear, awe”; equivalent to revere 1 + -ence
Explanation
Reverence is a feeling of deep respect or awe — like what you have for a president, a hero, or a favorite football player. Reverence can be a feeling of awe, and it can also describe how you treat someone, particularly when used with the word with. To treat someone "with reverence" is to show them intense respect. Your friends may respect you for your loyalty, though they probably do not bow to you with reverence every day.
Vocabulary lists containing reverence
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Here, Moore shows reverence not only for her own craft, but for all the hopeful idealists who pine to know what it feels like to lose yourself in someone, or something, else.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz wrote that Mr. Altman is “often described, either with reverence or with suspicion, as the greatest pitchman of his generation.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Out of that reverence for the group’s music, Peña noted that all the Smiths covers will be performed only in English.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
As always, Parton led with a message of steadfast reverence for her fellow humans.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
Life is a miracle beyond our comprehension, and we should reverence it even where we have to struggle against it.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
To comply with independence rules, Eide Bailly said it would set up an alternative practice structure whereby its nonaudit business will receive the Reverence investment and the audit business will remain a licensed CPA firm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Reverence and co-investors will collectively take a majority stake in the Minneapolis-based firm, in a deal valuing it at about $1.8 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Reverence is a longer black diamond halfway along Rattlesnake Mountain with a few optional double black diamond features.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
“You don’t see a lot of things like that here,” says Gisselle Meza, a 16-year-old podcast intern at the Reverence Project.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2023
We are all agreed, from end to end of society, that Truthfulness, Integrity, Courage, Purity, Industry, Benevolence, and a spirit of Reverence for sacred things are inexpressibly desirable and excellent.
From Household Education by Harriet Martineau
Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum has revered its precedents as it reverences its Rembrandts.
From Time Magazine Archive
It seemed to me that there pervaded on that island one of the deepest respects and reverences for the dead.
From Time Magazine Archive
“My father praised Robert without respite! So my behavior was disgracious. But such reverences, such empathies that existed between them, they are very combustible. Friendship is a calmer thing. Robert left Zedelgem in winter.”
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
You can hardly imagine how glad I am, when every morning I perceive myself environed and surrounded with brigades of creditors,—humble, fawning, and full of their reverences.
From Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromartie, Knight by John Willcock
There is no man," said Don Amador, "who more reverences the memory of the admiral than I; and I feel the more regard for yourself, that you have sailed with him on his discoveries.
From Calavar or The Knight of The Conquest, A Romance of Mexico by Robert Montgomery Bird
But Pi is precociously enlightened, his innocence not a problem to be rectified but a quality to be reverenced.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2025
Most white Americans were of British descent, they drew their political principles from English history, and they reverenced the king as protector of his people and their liberties.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
Shensi is reverenced as the birthplace of the Chinese nation, and when the country was first unified by the Ch'in dynasty in 221 B.C., its capital was near present-day Sian.
From Time Magazine Archive
He went to Paris, where he lived with Theo, painted furiously and tried to become like the Impressionists, whom he reverenced.
From Time Magazine Archive
I liked to read what they liked to read: what they enjoyed, delighted me; what they approved, I reverenced.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
In a land reverencing charismatic leadership and far-reaching intellect, he looks like a messenger boy and disparages his own brain.
From Time Magazine Archive
I do not yield to any one in honoring and reverencing the noble and patriotic men who were in the councils of the nation during the terrible struggle with the rebellion.
From Monopolies and the People by D. C. Cloud
Honor meant courage and courtesy, the reverencing of all women for the love of one.
From Historia Amoris: A History of Love, Ancient and Modern by Edgar Saltus
On such ground we tread lightly, reverencing the great and mighty dead.
From Fair Italy, the Riviera and Monte Carlo Comprising a Tour Through North and South Italy and Sicily with a Short Account of Malta by W. Cope Devereux
For true religion comes not by violence, but chiefly, I think, from being brought up with good men, reverencing their ways and words.
From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
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