pious
Americanadjective
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having or showing a dutiful spirit of reverence for God or an earnest wish to fulfill religious obligations.
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characterized by a hypocritical concern with virtue or religious devotion; sanctimonious.
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practiced or used in the name of real or pretended religious motives, or for some ostensibly good object; falsely earnest or sincere.
a pious deception.
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of or relating to religious devotion; sacred rather than secular.
pious literature.
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having or showing appropriate respect or regard for parents or others.
adjective
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having or expressing reverence for a god or gods; religious; devout
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marked by reverence
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marked by false reverence; sanctimonious
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sacred; not secular
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archaic having or expressing devotion for one's parents or others
Synonym Usage
See religious.
Other Word Forms
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piousnessnoun
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semipiousnessnoun
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superpiousnessnoun
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prepiousadjective
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pseudopiousadjective
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quasi-piousadjective
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semipiousadjective
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superpiousadjective
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unpiousadjective
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piouslyadverb
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prepiouslyadverb
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pseudopiouslyadverb
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quasi-piouslyadverb
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semipiouslyadverb
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superpiouslyadverb
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unpiouslyadverb
Etymology
Origin of pious
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin pius, akin to piāre “to propitiate”
Explanation
If someone is deeply religious and visibly follows all the moral and ethical codes of his religion, he is pious. Don't become a priest if you're not prepared to live a pious life. Pious comes from the Latin pius, which means dutiful. It doesn't always have to be used to talk about organized religion. If someone believes deeply in something, and lets everyone see it through their behavior, then they are pious, whether they're pious Christians or pious environmentalists. It differs from its synonym devout, which implies deep religious sentiment, whereas pious emphasizes the public display of feeling.
Vocabulary lists containing pious
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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.
No insect shocks him more than the female praying mantis, a creature with a pious name that belies her appetite for other insects—and even for her own mate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Emily says the real Eric was very different to the pious preacher he portrayed himself to be.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2026
The Portuguese design genius for mixing the pious with playfully overelaborated touches reaches its apotheosis at this Unesco World Heritage site—Portugal’s equivalent of France’s monumental Cathedral of Chartres.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
Erdogan, a devout Muslim and graduate of a clerical school, has previously said he aims to raise a "pious generation".
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
My mother and father were deeply pious catolicos; all my relatives were Catholics.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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.
