reverend
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
A member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rehveruhndSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹɛvɚənd
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.
noun
A member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church
A member of the Christian clergy; a minister.
Alternative letter-case form of reverend: a person who has received this designation and is entitled to use it publicly: a minister.
adjective
Worthy of reverence or respect.
Showing or granting reverence or respect.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church
In this sense, reverend is a strong, expressive word and carries open devotion, so it sounds personal rather than measured.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Affectionate
- Usage feel
- Warm and expressive
Where it naturally appears
- Religion/spirituality
- Historical writing
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Reverend is emotionally heavy: it suggests deep or lasting feeling, not a passing mood, so it can overstate a small reaction.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Antonyms
Sense: member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church
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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.