irreverent
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of irreverent
1485–95; < Latin irreverent- (stem of irreverēns ) disrespectful. See ir- 2, reverent
Explanation
If you are irreverent, you don’t show respect toward something, like your irreverent singing of your school's alma mater in a funny voice. To be irreverent doesn’t necessarily mean you don't like something; it’s just that you don’t display the same honor for it that other people do. You might have a more light-hearted approach, poking fun of the way other people seem to almost blindly show their devotion. For example, when people at the Louvre are standing in hushed awe in front of the "Mona Lisa" it would be irreverent to holler "What's so great about that?"
Vocabulary lists containing irreverent
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 3
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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ACT Reading Test: Words to Capture Tone, List 3
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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.
She has short brown hair, tortoiseshell glasses and an irreverent wit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
In 1779 Edward Gibbon was compelled to respond to critics who alleged that his “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” was unduly irreverent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
The head of the AMC cinema chain, Adam Aron, posted on X and then deleted a message describing the couple's vows as "long, entertaining, personal, charming, emotional, irreverent and endearing."
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
Rouner continued that the forthcoming memoir is “wise, funny, irreverent, moving — and wholly original.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
The names of places carry a charge of the people who named them, reverent or irreverent, descriptive, either poetic or disparaging.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
