pious
adjective
Simple meaning
Exhibiting piety, devout.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pyuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpaɪəs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of or pertaining to piety, exhibiting piety, devout, god-fearing.
Relating to religion or religious works.
Insisting on or making a show of one's own virtue, especially in comparison to others; sanctimonious, condescending, judgmental.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or pertaining to piety, exhibiting piety, devout, god-fearing.
Used this way, pious is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Of or pertaining to a god.
Alternative form of God-fearing and of godfearing.
Belonging or pertaining to a religious order.
That prays frequently.
Devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Insincere talk about religion or morals.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: of or pertaining to piety or exhibiting piety
Antonyms
Sense: of or pertaining to piety or exhibiting piety
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.