as in to venerate
to offer honor or respect to (someone) as a divine power
devotees coming to reverence their god
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in deference
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
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 reverence
Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2025
But Trump also reverenced the tough job Emmer has in keeping the GOP majority together, with which Emmer is all too familiar after the chaotic last two years.
—Emily Brooks, The Hill, 3 Feb. 2025
George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Apr. 2026
Tsodilo there’s a palpable atmosphere of reverence.
—Lucie Grace, TheWeek, 17 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for reverence
Verb
But Pi is precociously enlightened, his innocence not a problem to be rectified but a quality to be reverenced.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2025
But Trump also reverenced the tough job Emmer has in keeping the GOP majority together, with which Emmer is all too familiar after the chaotic last two years.
—Emily Brooks, The Hill, 3 Feb. 2025
Noun
Vocal marvel Luciana Souza and the nimble guitarist Marcel Carmago are both natives of São Paulo, Brazil, and share a keen sense of reverence and adventure in their music.
—George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Apr. 2026
Tsodilo there’s a palpable atmosphere of reverence.
—Lucie Grace, TheWeek, 17 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for reverence
Recent Examples of Synonyms for reverence
Verb
-
Our Lady of Guadalupe is represented pregnant and venerated by devotees seeking protection and peace.—
Marie-Claire Beaulieu,
The Conversation,
5 May 2026
-
People were so eager to venerate his remains that skulls of his magically multiplied.—
Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Judges are obligated to give high deference to arbitrators and are expected to uphold awards so long as the award was not procured by fraud and the arbitrator didn’t fail to consider relevant evidence or follow basic legal principles.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
12 May 2026
-
Years of static budgets, staffing turnover, a culture of industry deference and a sluggish response by federal regulators have left the agency unprepared to address a contamination crisis of this size and scope, said Demonbreun-Chapman and others.—
DYLAN JACKSON,
ABC News,
6 May 2026
Verb
-
Our families deserve to worship safely.—
Adam Duxter,
CBS News,
8 May 2026
-
Each statue the perfect epitome of silent, mothering, virginal womanhood that Ireland had come to worship.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 May 2026
Noun
-
The veneration of the catacomb saints during the late 17th and 18th centuries came at a time when vast stretches of Europe, including Bavaria, were still reeling from the Thirty Years’ War.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
8 May 2026
-
The Virgin Mary and her immaculate conception were to be celebrated, and perhaps no other nation threw themselves into the veneration of Mary that year quite like the Irish.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 May 2026
Verb
-
He was also revered as a civil rights activist pushing for quality healthcare, women’s rights, living wages, racial and immigrant justice, and gender and LGBTQ equality.—
Nicholas Williams,
New York Daily News,
9 May 2026
-
She was also revered for her charity work, most notably for those living with HIV and AIDS, receiving the Presidential Citizens Medal from President Bill Clinton in 2001.—
Kate Hogan,
PEOPLE,
8 May 2026
Noun
-
Yet she’s viewed, like everything else in the movie, with an adoration that is nearly transcendental.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
16 May 2026
-
There’s probably a smart, chilling film to be made about the terrors of smothering and relentless adoration — one imagines what Rod Serling would have done with something like this — but this isn’t really that film.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
15 May 2026
Noun
-
Jewish leaders and analysts say expressions of support for terrorist groups such as Hamas, combined with public glorification of violence, have contributed to an environment in which anti-Jewish hostility is becoming increasingly normalized.—
Ariella Noveck,
FOXNews.com,
10 May 2026
-
The previous design featured the state’s old seal on a blue background and received criticism for its resemblance to other similarly lackluster state flags, and for what some said was a glorification of the displacement of Native Americans by European settlers.—
Kathryn Kovalenko,
Twin Cities,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The early colonists were very much anti-idol worshippers and even modern Catholics, as Vice President Vance surely knows, have long been criticized by their Protestant counterparts for a love of statuary, reliquaries and other iconography that some have argued fall into idolatry.—
Culture Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
1 Apr. 2026
-
Leo used his homily at Mass in the Monaco stadium to do just that, urging the faithful to reject the type of idolatry that has enslaved people in cycles of war and injustice.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
29 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Reverence.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/reverence. Accessed 17 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
