piety
Americannoun
-
pieties
plural
-
reverence for God or devout fulfillment of religious obligations.
a prayer full of piety.
- Synonyms:
- awe, veneration, respect
-
the quality or state of being pious.
saintly piety.
- Synonyms:
- holiness, sanctity, devoutness, devotion, godliness
-
dutiful respect or regard for parents, homeland, etc..
filial piety.
-
a pious act, remark, belief, or the like.
the pieties and sacrifices of an austere life.
noun
-
dutiful devotion to God and observance of religious principles
-
the quality or characteristic of being pious
-
a pious action, saying, etc
-
rare devotion and obedience to parents or superiors
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of piety
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English piete, from Middle French, from Latin pietās, equivalent to pi(us) + -etās, variant (after i ) of -itās; see pious, -ity
Explanation
Piety is devotion to God or to religious practices. Nuns who pray all day long are famous for their piety. If you have filial piety it means you're devoted to your parents. Piety is sometimes used in a disapproving way to mean that the person is only pretending to be devoted or good. It was borrowed from the French word pieté, meaning "piety or pity," ultimately from the Latin pius, "devoted, kind." This Latin adjective is also the source of our English adjective pious.
Vocabulary lists containing piety
The Poet X
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"The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving
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Unit 4: Powerful Openings
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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:
But the luminous interior, designed by a man of such profound piety that he was known as “God’s architect,” compels awe even in those devoid of religious belief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The discussions range from people frustrated with controlling parents, to those exhausted from the pressure to excel academically or heed advice in the name of "filial piety".
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
Soo’s Bonnie sweetly embodies the excesses of a kind of progressive piety.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026
The shift from politics to piety is not just thematic.
From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2026
Ordinarily such a display would have made me nervous, but since Trebon was a mining town I guessed it showed civic pride more than fanatic piety.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Here, contemporary pieties are used to judge the past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Much of the public wanted a different take on war - and one that challenged solemn pieties at the heart of Official Remembrance.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2025
It will play to the masses as an inspiring underdog saga, spiced with proper pieties about the power of hope and individual destiny.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2023
She has made a living as a yoga teacher, though she doesn’t really like teaching and has a penchant for skewering the pieties of her profession in Instagram parodies filmed by her husband.
From New York Times ● Apr. 28, 2023
The Damphair might disapprove, but Aeron and his pieties were far away.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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.
