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.
He described the vows as "long, entertaining, personal, charming, emotional, irreverent and endearing explorations by each" about how they met and why they wanted to be married.
From Barron's • Jul. 4, 2026
HBO Max’s “The Pitt” received a credit of $24.2 million, while “Stewie,” a spin-off of Seth MacFarlane’s irreverent adult cartoon “Family Guy,” was awarded $6.4 million.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026
The irreverent news website had seemingly cracked the code for social-media virality, and would soon become one of the first digital-media startups to achieve unicorn status with a valuation of over $1 billion.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 13, 2026
Setting out to make a film about the Civil War general burning his way through the South, he ended up with an irreverent, semi-solipsistic travelogue organized around the women he encountered along the way.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 10, 2026
By temperament, he was inherently impulsive, highly combustible, instinctively irreverent.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
