a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.
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 ).
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
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Latin reverentia “respect, fear, awe”; equivalent to revere 1 + -ence
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While Aang’s saga follows the trajectory of Western fantasies that revolve around a Chosen One, his stubborn insistence on nonviolence and befriending perceived enemies reflects Miyazaki’s reverence for empathy, innocence and life’s natural beauty.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Veda’s evil can also feel anachronistic, especially in today’s world of nepo-baby jokes, “immigrants get it done!” and reverence of rags-to-riches stories.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
By threading Celan’s poems through the lived record, Ms. Arno restores a proud, wounded, flirtatious, multilingual man often romanticized by reverence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Gwennan Harries taught Jones at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, the school she attended in north west Cardiff, and remembers the reverence her rugby skills were held in.
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026
But this, I suddenly knew, was the respect and reverence of the artist.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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
“This was a junkyard with cars all over the place,” she says, surveying the 3,150-square-foot plot of land that surrounds the office of the nonprofit Reverence Project.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2023
Reverence radiates from Alberta Whittle’s textile hanging, floating on high, made from clothes — European, African — owned by her cosmopolitan Barbadian grandfather.
From New York Times ● Jun. 23, 2022
"Please your Reverence," said Dick again, in an under tone, "she is as mild and as beautiful as the moon."
From Fairy Legends and Traditions of The South of Ireland by Crocker, T. Crofton
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
First immersion and I�m away from the North Pacific and all of its frigid reverences, springtide gales, redwoods, white sharks and hypothermia.
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
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 Bird, Robert Montgomery
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
Citation: "You have repeatedly demonstrated the Socratic dictum: No man is to be reverenced more than the truth."
From Time Magazine Archive
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
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 Cloud, D. C.
What men are here—wild, insolent, unjust, or are they hospitable, reverencing the Gods?
From Homer's Odyssey A Commentary by Snider, Denton Jaques
"After acquiring wealth in abundance, the twelve inner seats "Are to be thoroughly reverenced; what use of reverencing aught else below?
From The Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha Review of the Different Systems of Hindu Philosophy by Acharya, Madhava
The Dutch in Europe were a highly cultivated people, devoted to learning and reverencing the printed book.
From Dutch and English on the Hudson A Chronicle of Colonial New York by Goodwin, Maud Wilder
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.
