Adjacent Words

Pious definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PI'OUS, a. [L. pius.]
1. Godly; reverencing and honoring the Supreme Being in heart and in the practice of the duties he has enjoined; having due veneration and affection for the character of God, and habitually obeying his commands; religious; devoted to the service of God; applied to persons.
2. Dictated by reverence to God; proceeding from piety; applied to things; as pious awe; pious services of affections; pious sorrow.
3. Having due respect and affection for parents or other relatives; practicing the duties of respect and affection towards parents or other near relatives.
4. Practiced under the pretense of religion; as pious frauds.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having or showing or expressing reverence for a deity; "pious readings" [ant: impious]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin pius Date: 15th century 1. a. marked by or showing reverence for deity and devotion to divine worship b. marked by conspicuous religiosity <a hypocrite—a thing all pious words and uncharitable deeds — Charles Reade> 2. sacred or devotional as distinct from the profane or secular ; religious <a pious opinion> 3. showing loyal reverence for a person or thing ; dutiful 4. a. marked by sham or hypocrisy b. marked by self-conscious virtue ; virtuous 5. deserving commendation ; worthy <a pious effort> • piously adverb • piousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 devout; religious. 2 hypocritically virtuous; sanctimonious. 3 dutiful. Phrases and idioms: pious fraud a deception intended to benefit those deceived, esp. religiously. Derivatives: piously adv. piousness n. Etymology: L pius dutiful, pious

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pious Pi"ous, a. [L. pius: cf. F. pieux.] 1. Of or pertaining to piety; exhibiting piety; reverential; dutiful; religious; devout; godly. ``Pious hearts.'' --Milton. ``Pious poetry.'' --Johnson. Where was the martial brother's pious care? --Pope. 2. Practiced under the pretext of religion; prompted by mistaken piety; as, pious errors; pious frauds. Syn: Godly; devout; religious; righteous.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. Someone who is pious is very religious and moral. He was brought up by pious female relatives. ...pious acts of charity. ADJ • piously Conti kneeled and crossed himself piously. ADV: ADV with v 2. If you describe someone's words as pious, you think that their words are full of good intentions but do not lead to anything useful being done. What we need is not manifestos of pious intentions, but real action. ADJ: ADJ n [disapproval] • piously The groups at the conference spoke piously of their fondness for democracy. ADV: ADV with v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Filial. 2. Religious, godly, holy, devout, saintly, righteous.

Moby Thesaurus

Christian, Christianlike, Christianly, God-fearing, Tartuffian, Tartuffish, adoring, affected, angelic, assured, believing, canting, certain, confident, convinced, cultish, cultist, cultistic, dedicated, devoted, devout, dogmatic, doubtless, dutiful, faithful, false, fideistic, fraudulent, godlike, godly, good, goody, goody-goody, holier-than-thou, holy, hypocritical, impressed with, insincere, mealy-mouthed, mealymouthed, moral, oily, persuaded, pharisaic, pietistic, pistic, positive, prayerful, pretended, priestly, religious, reverent, reverential, right-minded, saintly, sanctified, sanctimonious, satisfied, secure, self-righteous, seraphic, smarmy, sniveling, sold on, solemn, spiritual, sure, theistic, unctuous, under the impression, undoubtful, undoubting, venerational, venerative, virtuous, worshipful