pietistic

adjective

pi·​e·​tis·​tic ˌpī-ə-ˈti-stik 

1

: of or relating to Pietism

2

a

: of or relating to religious devotion or devout persons

b

: marked by overly sentimental or emotional devotion to religion : religiose

pietistically

ˌpī-ə-ˈti-sti-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Examples of pietistic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Warnock’s doctoral thesis, the basis of a book published in 2013, was about the divide in the Black church between a pietistic tradition, which emphasized individual righteousness and uplift, and a social one, epitomized by King. —Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2022

By the time Warnock was hired to lead Ebenezer, in 2005, strains of the pietistic tradition had consolidated in the new suburban Black megachurches that preached the prosperity gospel, led by figures such as Creflo Dollar and Bishop Eddie Long. —Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2022

The official version of Irish history was a dour, gray, pietistic nationalism. —Cullen Murphy, The Atlantic, 14 Mar. 2022

Fonny grew up there, too, with his alcoholic father (Michael Beach), unforgivingly pietistic mother (Aunjanue Ellis), and judgmental sisters (Ebony Obsidian and Dominique Thorne). —Alissa Wilkinson, Vox, 18 Sep. 2018

My personal Sharia tells me how to pray, how to fast, how to follow my personal pietistic laws, but then there is Sharia that gets involved in criminal law, that gets involved in prohibiting siege. —Fox News, 18 June 2018

Word History

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined at sense 1