reverential
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- nonreverential adjective
- nonreverentially adverb
- reverentiality noun
- reverentially adverb
- reverentialness noun
- unreverential adjective
- unreverentially adverb
Etymology
Origin of reverential
Explanation
When you're reverential, you treat someone or something with a lot of respect. You might speak about your beloved kindergarten teacher in a reverential voice. To talk about someone in a reverential way or treat a family heirloom with reverential care is to act out of a deep, almost solemn kind of respect. The adjective reverential comes close to implying worship — a devoutly religious person feels reverential toward God, for example. It's rooted in the Latin word reverentia, "awe or respect," from revereri, "to stand in awe of, fear, or be afraid of."
Vocabulary lists containing reverential
This Week in Words: July 14 - 20, 2018
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The Grapes of Wrath
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Artemis Fowl
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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.
But fairs emphasized the typical, not the singular; the popular, not the elite; the commercial, not the reverential.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 14, 2026
“I’m creating my own vision of the artist’s unfinished masterpiece, torn between a feeling of reverential awe and profound admiration,” he told Wallpaper.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 1, 2025
I think there's a reverential approach that is just as, if not more, valuable.
From Salon • Apr. 26, 2025
This geometry, a reverential homage to Courreges’ founding vision, was reimagined through di Felice’s contemporary eye.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 28, 2024
Regardless of the particular interests of the tenured scholars who worked there, they were understood to represent a community devoted to the larger reverential purpose.
From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro
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.
