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connect today's word to others:
As kids sitting in church, my sisters and I weren't particularly good at sitting still, keeping silent, or looking reverent (that is, looking respectful, worshipful, solemn, devout, and pious).
At the heart of words like reverent (and reverend) is the Latin vereri, meaning to fear, to respect, to be in awe.
Literally speaking, then, we revere whatever isawesome, often in that religious sense of "awesome," that "Our God is an Awesome God" sense.
In other words, at its heart, reverence is about respecting something because you fear it.
What about a word for respecting something because you love it? That would be v__eration, based on the Latin word for "love, desire, or beauty." Can you recall it? It's related to the name of a planet, also the name of the Roman goddess of love and beauty.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"REVERENT"
To revere people or things is to respect them highly or admire them very much.
So, reverent (or reverential) people and things are highly respectful or deeply admiring, often in a religious or almost-religious way.
(Notice that a reverent person is the one who gives the admiration or respect, while a revered person is the one who gets the admiration or respect.)
Pronunciation:
REV uh runt
Part of speech:
Adjective.
(Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late."
They can be used in two ways:
1. Right before a noun, as in "a reverent look" or "a reverent person."
2. After a linking verb, as in "It was reverent." or "He's reverent.")
Also, this sounds weird to me, but "reverence" can be a verb: you reverence things. (I prefer the simpler "revere.")
Here are the opposites: irreverent, irreverence, irreverently.
How to use it:
This word is very common and a bit formal. We revere things that either are holy or that we treat as holy--or almost holy--so you probably won't feel reverent toward, say, your Papa John's pizza, no matter how delicious it is, but you might feel reverent toward the teams you cheer for or the sport that plays a major role in your life.
Talk about a reverent person, look, glance, face, expression, statement, attitude, tone, manner, treatment, silence, awe, wonder, etc.
Most of those things can also be called irreverent, or disrespectful in a funny or inappropriate way.
You can say that people are reverent (or irreverent) about or toward other people and things: "She's reverent about her family;" "He's reverent toward these works of art." (Here's my impression of the difference. If you're reverent about something, that usually means you speak in a reverent way. And if you're reverent toward something, that usually means you act in reverent way.) And to be more formal, say that people are reverent of something: "She's reverent of tradition," "He's reverent of the scientific process."
examples:
I stepped into the Poe museum, eager but reverent.
Look away from the screen to define "reverent" without saying "admiring" or "deferential."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "I don't understand (some group)'s reverence for (something)."
Example: "I don't understand these professors' reverence for Strunk and White's book. It's outdated, self-contradictory, and downright grumpy."
before you review:
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
Our game this month is "A Doodad Named After a Thingamajig."
If I give you two categories, X and Y, can you think of an X that was named after a Y?
We'll start off easy--these first few questions will have lots of correct answers each that you might think up--and we'll work our way toward harder questions that, as far as I know, have only one correct answer each.
From the previous issue: Can you think of an article of clothing named after an island?
The only answer I know of is the bikini. Sherron, Anuschka, Jack, and Amanda thought of Bermuda shorts; Nancy and Katherine thought of capri pants; Suzanne thought of sarongs; Sorin and Jack thought of the Hawaiian shirt; and Sorin thought of the Aran sweater. Thanks, y'all! :D (If you know more, please share them!)
Try this one today: Can you think of a sport named after a town?
review today's word:
1. The exact opposite of REVERENT is IRREVERENT. But a close opposite of REVERENT is
2. The author Ottessa Moshfegh describes herself as "fluent in irreverence," or more specifically, _____.
A. embracive of foreign cultures
B. dismissive of small talk and etiquette
C. conversant with the texts of major world religions
Answers are below.
a final word:
Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Answers to review questions:
1. A
2. B
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