REVERENCE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.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

... appeared at the entrance. He was bowed down with years, his snowy beard descended to his girdle, and he supported his tottering steps with a palmer's staff. The cavaliers rose and received him with great reverence as he advanced within the tent. Holding up his withered hand, 'Wo, wo to Spain!' exclaimed he, 'for the vial of the wrath of heaven is about to be poured out. Listen, warriors, and take warning. Four months ...

— The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, May 1844 - Volume 23, Number 5 • Various

... was in keeping with the Aztec customs that prisoners taken in war thus should be brought first of all before the god Huitzilopochtli, that they and their captors together might do him reverence; therefore, I was not surprised when a priest came forth from behind the altar and bade us prostrate ourselves in adoration of the idol. As this order was given, all the Aztlanecas with us bowed themselves to the floor; but Young, who did not understand the order, and I, who ...

— The Aztec Treasure-House • Thomas Allibone Janvier

... critics wrote wonderfully about her, but a vast majority of them, trained only in witty disparagement and acute disintegrating perception, became empty and formal in face of an unaccustomed challenge to admiration and reverence. ...

— Balloons • Elizabeth Bibesco

... indisputable records of our history; if the action of the military authorities had not been so arbitrary, the uprising of Attucks and his followers might be looked upon as a common, reprehensible riot and the participants as a band of misguided incendiaries. Subsequent reverence for the occasion, disproves any such view. Judge Dawes, a prominent jurist of the time, as well as a brilliant exponent of the people, alluding in 1775 ...

— History of the American Negro in the Great World War • W. Allison Sweeney

... anticipating what Jean-Jacques was to say of himself before his death, that there was a sign in his work which could not be imitated, and which acted only at the level of its source. We may call Jean-Jacques religious because we have no other word; but the word would be more truly applied to the reverence felt towards such a man than to his own emotion. He was driven to speak of God by the habit of his childhood and the deficiency of a language shaped by the intellect and not by the soul. But his deity was one whom neither the Catholic nor the Reformed Church could accept, for He ...

— Aspects of Literature • J. Middleton Murry

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