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to worship

to worship

169 4.2
To show love and deep respect to a god by taking part in religious ceremonies
  • verb
  • /ˈwɜrʃɪp/
translation icon : adorar
  • God cannot be worshipped at makeshift altars.
  • worship God
  • worship a deity
  • freedom to worship

They will continue to worship, to learn and to sing.

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Examples

  • In America we don't worship government, we worship God.

  • During the festival, thousands of devotees come together to worship the deity.

  • You are all I asked for, all I worship and enjoy.

  • You want me to worship your Christ.

  • I choose, you know, to worship in Christianity.

  • The goal is to worship and glorify God.

  • There was a young woman who worshiped the Lord.

  • They said do with us what you will, but we worship the God of all creation.

  • Parishioners came together to worship at mass, but sermons were delivered in English, French, and German.

    Academic text (1993)
  • They turned their backs on God and worshiped dark Aztec spirits.

Synonyms

to deify
vsto worship
7 8.4

To treat someone like a god and admire them too much

is religious devotion without making someone into a god
to reverence
vsto worship
2 7.1

To treat someone or something with deep respect

is active religious devotion often shown in ceremonies
to idolatrize
vsto worship
  • US
9.9

To admire someone too much and ignore their faults

is devotion practiced in religious rites rather than excessive idol praise

Antonyms

119 3.9

Ignore something or someone on purpose

Idioms

To admire someone too much and ignore their faults

To throw up after drinking too much alcohol

Compounds

A place where people meet to pray or have religious services

A building where people gather for prayer or religious services

4 5.1

A very strong admiration for a famous person that ignores their faults

1 7.8

Praying to statues or pictures as if they were gods

A practice of honoring dead family members with gifts and prayers, believing their spirits watch over the living

Religious belief that people pray to natural things like rivers and the sun

Religious people meet to pray, sing, and spend time together

Treating the Bible like a holy object to respect instead of a book to read and follow

To pray to devils or evil spirits, often using special rituals

Treating animals as sacred beings in religion

To treat fire as a god or holy thing

The practice of treating fish as sacred in a religion

Too much belief or praise for miracles that ignores core religious teachings

An act of praying to the moon as if it were a god

Respect shown for a place thought to be holy, like a temple or mountain

Too much love and praise for yourself that ignores others

A religious practice of treating snakes as gods

A religious practice in which people pray to the sun as a god

Giving too much value to symbols instead of what they stand for

A practice of showing religious respect to trees

woman-worship
  • Archaic
9.3

To admire and respect women very much

To pray to planets or stars as gods

Treating a person as if they were a god

word-worship
  • Literature
9.9

Giving too much value to how something is said instead of what it means

How Devout

to idolize
  • US
42 4.9
to revere
21 6.7
to worship
169 4.2
to honor
  • US
796 2.3
to respect
1.0

Surface Forms

worship infinitive
worshipped past
worshipped past participle
worshipping present participle
worships third person singular

Morphology

worship = worth (opaque) = worth + ship

Although historically formed from 'worth' + '-ship', the modern meaning 'reverence' cannot be derived from 'worth' by typical learners due to semantic drift.

Etymology

Worship comes from the Old English word weorþscipe, where weorþ means 'worth' and -scipe is like friendship meaning 'state or condition'. It originally meant to give honor or value to someone, so to worship a god is to show deep respect and join in religious ceremonies.