IRREVERENCE Synonyms: 26 Similar and Opposite Words

irreverence

noun

i-ˈre-v(ə-)rən(t)s

Definition of irreverence

as in blasphemy

an act of great disrespect shown to God or to sacred ideas, people, or things the sect has no tolerance for any irreverence directed toward their spiritual leader

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of irreverence By the early 1990s, Eugene had earned itself a reputation as a beacon of progressive-minded irreverence, drawing a pungent mix of weirdos, iconoclasts, and freethinkers. — Literary Hub, 10 July 2026 The screening usually focusses on clandestine hanky-panky, but this season the girls’ irreverence was so abundant that the producers treated them to an unprecedented second viewing night. — Lillian Fishman, New Yorker, 27 June 2026 There’s loneliness, pain and self-destruction in her binge drinking, humor that comes in her wild and free dancing, and irreverence in hanging with her beloved super-pup Krypto. — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 25 June 2026 Viewed from the present, these young athlete-patriots seem to possess a quintessentially American mix of pride, irreverence, and subversion. — Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 11 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for irreverence

Recent Examples of Synonyms for irreverence

Noun

That might have sounded like blasphemy just half a decade ago, but college football is always evolving, and Swinney is a man stuck in time.

— Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 7 Sep. 2026
Politicians and preachers denounced them for blasphemy, perversion, and their loud support for civil rights.

— Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 29 Aug. 2026

Definition of blasphemy

Noun

While this might seem like capitalist sacrilege, Gearin says there’s historical precedent for Indigenous peoples using plant medicine as a tool to navigate the practical demands of the world.

— Claire Hoffman, Rolling Stone, 21 Sep. 2026
To refer to the Manhattanite rock quintet as third best in any context feels like music sacrilege.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2026

Definition of sacrilege

Noun

The order warned any construction or demolition before the NPS issues final authorization would be a violation of the court.

— Kristin Wright, NPR, 20 Sep. 2026
Former Edison football coach Dave White remembers suspending his team’s best player before a trip to Hawaii for a team rule violation.

— Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2026

Definition of violation

Noun

These are two examples of politicians' truths among a plethora of others that are really lies, distortions, deceptions and desecrations of the citizens' trust in them.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 23 Sep. 2026
Cutting down a tree is this ultimate symbol of the desecration of the environment, but that wasn’t always the case.

— Fiction Non Fiction, Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of desecration

Noun

Paxton had argued that the law-school clinic was not a classroom but a workplace, and that Fisher was punished not for expressing political views but because her cursing and volume had disrupted clinic business.

— Benjamin Wofford, New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2026
The cursing is definitely a big part of being that age, and especially misplaced cursing is funny — kids who don’t exactly know how to curse correctly.

— Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 18 Sep. 2026

Definition of cursing

Noun

Because of the high likelihood of corruption, our devices encode messages with enough redundancy that they can be pieced together by the receiving machine despite the errors incurred in transit.

— Jack Murtagh, Scientific American, 17 Sep. 2026
Miami Vice ’85, with a screenplay by Dan Gilroy, explores the glamour and corruption of mid-1980s Miami in an all-new version of Miami Vice, inspired by the pilot episode of the landmark 1984-90 NBC series.

— Justin Kroll, Deadline, 17 Sep. 2026

Definition of corruption

Noun

This is on top of Perez Hilton and plenty of other sites (Gawker included) that would just flat-out insult people, draw nasty things on their pictures, and just generally malign them.

— Brian Moylan, Vulture, 23 Sep. 2026
Reclaiming the work of women selling fish, and the word that was an insult but is now a beautiful brand, is a wonderful turn of phrase and time, to us.

— Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of insult

Browse Nearby Words

irretrievable

irreverence

irreverences

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Style

“Irreverence.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/irreverence. Accessed 24 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of irreverence

noun

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