worship
noun
reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.
worship
American
[wur-ship]
/ ˈwɜr ʃɪp /
noun
-
reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.
-
formal or ceremonious rendering of such honor and homage.
They attended worship this morning.
-
adoring reverence or regard.
excessive worship of business success.
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the object of adoring reverence or regard.
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(initial capital letter) a title of honor used in addressing or mentioning certain magistrates and others of high rank or station (usually preceded by Your, His, orHer ).
verb (used with object)
-
worships,
present (3rd person singular)
-
worshipped,
past, past participle, past (especially British)
-
worshiped,
past participle
-
worshiping,
present participle
-
worshipping
present participle (especially British)
verb (used without object)
-
worships,
present (3rd person singular)
-
worshipped,
past, past participle, past (especially British)
-
worshiped,
past participle
-
worshiping,
present participle
-
worshipping
present participle (especially British)
-
to render religious reverence and homage, as to a deity.
-
to attend services of divine worship.
-
to feel an adoring reverence or regard.
worship
1
British
/ ˈwɜːʃɪp /
verb
-
(tr) to show profound religious devotion and respect to; adore or venerate (God or any person or thing considered divine)
-
(tr) to be devoted to and full of admiration for
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(intr) to have or express feelings of profound adoration
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(intr) to attend services for worship
-
obsolete (tr) to honour
noun
-
religious adoration or devotion
-
the formal expression of religious adoration; rites, prayers, etc
-
admiring love or devotion
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archaic dignity or standing
Worship
2
British
/ ˈwɜːʃɪp /
noun
Usage
What does worship mean? Worship is the honor and reverence given to a god or sacred object, as in The holy men would not allow anyone to interrupt their worship of the gods. Worship can also refer to the formal act or ceremony in which a person gives such reverence, as in The family attended worship yesterday. Worship can be used more generally to refer to passionate adoration or devotion of anything, as in I am sometimes disturbed by the creepy worship of celebrities. As a verb, worship can be used in both the religious sense, as in worshipping nature, or the secular sense, as in worshiping the musician at every concert. In American English, worshiped and worshipping are spelled with only one P, while in British English they are spelled with two P’s (worshipped, worshipping). Self-worship is used to refer to someone who reveres or adores themselves, as in The dozens of flattering self-portraits were just one example of the king’s self-worship. Example: My sister worships her cats and is always buying fancy gifts for them.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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preworshipnoun
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self-worshipnoun
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self-worshipernoun
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self-worshippernoun
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worshipernoun
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worshippernoun
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misworshipverb
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self-worshipingadjective
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self-worshippingadjective
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unworshipedadjective
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unworshipingadjective
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unworshippedadjective
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unworshippingadjective
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worshipableadjective
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worshipinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
worshipsimple
-
worshipssimple
-
have worshipedperfect
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have worshippedperfect
-
has worshipedperfect
-
has worshippedperfect
-
am worshipingprogressive
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am worshippingprogressive
-
are worshipingprogressive
-
are worshippingprogressive
-
is worshipingprogressive
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is worshippingprogressive
-
have been worshipingperfect progressive
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have been worshippingperfect progressive
-
has been worshipingperfect progressive
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has been worshippingperfect progressive
Past
-
worshippedsimple
-
had worshipedperfect
-
had worshippedperfect
-
was worshipingprogressive
-
was worshippingprogressive
-
were worshipingprogressive
-
were worshippingprogressive
-
had been worshipingperfect progressive
-
had been worshippingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of worship
First recorded before 900; Middle English noun wors(c)hipe, worthssipe, Old English worthscipe, variant of weorthscipe; Middle English verb derivative of the noun; see origin at worth 1, -ship
Explanation
To worship is to show a lot of love and adoration for something. Religious believers worship gods, and people can worship other people and things too. Worship is an extreme form of love — it's a type of unquestioning devotion. If you worship God, then you love God so much that you don't question him at all. Going to church is a form of worship — so is prayer. People also use the word worship in other cases. If you love a musician or sports star, you might say, "I worship her!" Or someone might say to you, "Man, you need to wake up and stop worshiping him."
Vocabulary lists containing worship
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Frindle
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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:
So had the creation and decoration of Prague’s earliest Jewish synagogue, the Altneuschul, the double-naved Gothic house of worship completed in 1270 that is also the oldest still-active synagogue in Europe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
The saint is revered by Brazil's Catholics but is not recognized as an object of worship by its growing evangelical population.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
CGA plans to expand to houses of worship, stadiums and live events.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
These dozen or so new worshippers - clustered around a band called Present Tense - were devout but disillusioned with traditional Anglican worship.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
That is where it will one day stand, and pilgrims will be able to come here and worship the pharaoh long after his death.
From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman
The Right to Worship Act would establish a 100-foot zone around a house of worship during services and prohibit conduct that impedes worshipers from attending or disrupts the service inside.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Worship took different forms for those in the crowds.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
People pray during the Praise and Worship service.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2023
The church-affiliated Elevation Worship has won six Dove Awards — the top award for contemporary Christian music — including song of the year for “The Blessing.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 30, 2023
Your Worship, I hate racial discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Where the MT1 puts small on a pedestal, the Slate Truck worships simple.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
What does it mean to lack ambition in a country that worships wealth?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
“This is a church that worships Jesus. Loves one another. Seeks the good of their neighbors.”
From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2026
Filipino woman worships green statue for 4 years, finds out it is animated character Shrek.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 12, 2026
“Chiche worships you, Jefe. He always says even back then he could tell you were a natural leader.”
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
His collections were worshipped for their emphasis on individuality.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
The image called to mind the golden calf of Abrahamic religious texts, worshipped by the Israelites to Moses’—and God’s—dismay.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
The Torrance, California, man studied at the prestigious California Institute of Technology, and worshipped at the Pasadena United Reformed Church in the Los Angeles area.
From BBC ● May 5, 2026
"If someone chants the name of Mother Bonbibi, she will save his life from tigers, snakes, and crocodiles," said villager Ashutosh Mandal, 63, referring to a deity whose idol is worshipped at temples.
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
The men in his legions worshipped him not only for his courage and cunning but for his uncanny ability to evade death even when facing appalling odds.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
A church in North Carolina was experiencing a reckoning, and someone on the staff was like, ‘No one wants to talk. We haven’t even worshiped together because of the pandemic.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
I love the game too much and, if I am being candid, my team has usually been better than the one everyone around me worshiped, which does wonders for a boy’s sense of belonging.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026
Legend has it that the lion-headed figure protected the country from invasions and was worshiped as a god of war in the ancient Nubian kingdoms of Kush.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Isis symbolizes healing and maternal love and was worshiped from England to Afghanistan during the time of the Roman Empire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2025
These and their like were what the pre-Greek world worshiped.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Society is depicted as "worshiping only power and money, despising art, sensitivity, tenderness, where people ...don't talk anymore."
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
Not by banning it or worshiping it, but by designing it to strengthen the irreplaceable human skills that business demands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026
It’s also sparked a crisis of faith for many Catholics who have spent their lives worshiping at Sunday Mass and are now questioning whether it’s safe to connect with God in such a public space.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2025
And a growing number of middle-class African Americans are worshiping in more diverse congregations.
From Slate ● Aug. 30, 2024
When we finished uncovering the pipe, we looked like the mud men of Borneo worshiping a fallen idol.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
A statement from the Abbey Church earlier said Widdecombe would be "missed and fondly remembered" and "many in our worshipping community knew her as a kind and warm character".
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
If that were an innovative idea, we’d have been worshipping at the heels of last year’s equally topical yet no less trite sci-fi horror “Companion.”
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
"If you tend to it too much, people think you are worshipping it," Arkoful says.
From BBC ● May 2, 2026
Kingsley Femi Fanwo, Kogi State's information commissioner, blamed Sunday's church raid on bandits, and urged isolated places of worship to "reconsider worshipping in crime prone areas for now until the situation gets better".
From Barron's ● Nov. 30, 2025
My eyes drank in each word, worshipping their shape until my lips started forming them and I was reading aloud for everyone and no one to hear.
From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken
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.
