REVERENCE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Reverence

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/rˈɛvərəns/ Listen

noun

Reverence n.

1.

Profound respect and esteem mingled with fear and affection, as for a holy being or place; the disposition to revere; veneration. "If thou be poor, farewell thy reverence." "Reverence, which is the synthesis of love and fear." "When discords, and quarrels, and factions, are carried openly and audaciously, it is a sign the reverence of government islost." Note: Formerly, as in Chaucer, reverence denoted "respect" "honor", without awe or fear.

2.

The act of revering; a token of respect or veneration; an obeisance. "Make twenty reverences upon receiving... about twopence." "And each of them doeth all his diligence To do unto the feast reverence."

3.

That which deserves or exacts manifestations of reverence; reverend character; dignity; state. "I am forced to lay my reverence by."

4.

A person entitled to be revered; a title applied to priests or other ministers with the pronouns his or your; sometimes poetically to a father.

Save your reverence, Saving your reverence, an apologetical phrase for an unseemly expression made in the presence of a priest or clergyman.

Sir reverence, a contracted form of Save your reverence. "Such a one as a man may not speak of, without he say. "Sir reverence.""

To do reverence, to show reverence or honor; to perform an act of reverence. "Now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence."

Synonyms: Awe; honor; veneration; adoration; dread. Awe, Reverence, Dread, Veneration. Reverence is a strong sentiment of respect and esteem, sometimes mingled slightly with fear; as, reverence for the divine law. Awe is a mixed feeling of sublimity and dread in view of something great or terrible, sublime or sacred; as, awe at the divine presence. It does not necessarily imply love. Dread is an anxious fear in view of an impending evil; as, dread of punishment. Veneration is reverence in its strongest manifestations. It is the highest emotion we can exercise toward human beings. Exalted and noble objects produce reverence; terrific and threatening objects awaken dread; a sense of the divine presence fills us with awe; a union of wisdom and virtue in one who is advanced in years inspires us with veneration.

verb

Reverence v. t. (past & past part. reverenced; pres. part. reverencing) To regard or treat with reverence; to regard with respect and affection mingled with fear; to venerate. "Let... the wife see that she reverence her husband." "Those that I reverence those I fear, the wise."

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Etymology of 'Reverence'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Reverence" Quotes from Famous Books

... gifts—although he knew not how to profit by them, but offended Him who had granted them. Those who will feel it most are the owners of the property [confided to him]; for God knows when they will collect it, because it is sequestrated. Will your Reverence communicate this ...

— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624 • Various

... and when at last its parting folds admitted the martyr President to the company of those dead heroes of the Republic, the nation stood so near the veil that the whispers of God were heard by the children of men. Awe-stricken by his voice, the American people knelt in tearful reverence and made a solemn covenant with him and with each other that this nation should be saved from its enemies, that all its glories should be restored, and, on the ruins of slavery and treason, the temples of freedom and justice should be ...

— Our American Holidays: Lincoln's Birthday • Various

... good. Saints, like sinners, can only have two legs apiece, we all know; but the saints of our ancestors, if their relics spoke truly, must have been saintly centipedes: of making new limbs there was no end, and, as their numbers increased, reverence waned, till hey!—the bubble of credulity burst at last, as did ...

— The Idler Magazine, Volume III, March 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various

... sensual, one spiritual. Weak or inferior men mistake the first for the last, whilst great souls know how to clothe the merely natural instinct in all the graces of the spirit. The very strength of this spiritual passion imposes severe self-restraint and inspires them with reverence for women. Clearly, feeling is sensitive in proportion to the calibre of the mental powers generally, and this is why the man of genius alone has something of a woman's delicacy. He understands and divines woman, and the wings of passion on which ...

— Letters of Two Brides • Honore de Balzac

... compose at once the brightest ornaments of our nature, and the costliest treasures of experience. Ah, if, in place of them, we could everywhere meet the honest hand, the open heart, the serious mind, the frank voice, the upward eye, the emulous and helpful soul largely endowed with knowledge and reverence! Then one would never be troubled with that frightfully depressing feeling—the feeling that there is nothing worth living for. Verily, the most dismal of all deaths is to die from lack of a sufficient motive for living. And is it not ...

— The Friendships of Women • William Rounseville Alger

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